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#1
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Oil level?
First time poster here. I'm a proud new Mercedes owner. Just bought a 1981 300D a few months back. Only 100k miles.
About 3 weeks ago I changed the oil and filter. I filled it up with the recommended 7.5 quarts, let the engine run for a minute or so and checked the dipstick, which read just right. Before the oil change I was leaking a bit of oil on the driveway (had a wood board down) but after the change the oil drip stopped. I think it was just tightening the plug with a new crush washer that did the trick. Last week I checked the oil (cold engine) and was surprised to see the dipstick reading almost empty! It shows a little bit of oil, maybe half an inch up on the dipstick which is well below the lower marker. I guess the obvious thing to do would be to just fill it right up but I have some doubts about the reading. First off, that oil has to be going somewhere. I'm not dripping oil and there is no smoke at all coming off the hood or exhaust. So what's going on? Could it be that the dipstick is reading incorrectly? Then again it did give me a good reading only 3 weeks back. Unsure of what to make of this, I added about half a quart today and the dipstick showed no change in the oil level! I'm really scratching my head. Any thoughts? PS. The oil pressure gauge on the dash reads full. |
#2
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Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your purchase!
Here is the "official position" on measuring oil level: http://www.w124performance.com/service/Index/Resources/00.57EngineOilLevelSI.pdf. So try measuring the MB way and see what you find. I find that cold and warm readings are comparable on my cars....but perhaps yours is different. Any possibility that you're rapidly using oil without seeing any smoke?
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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 154k miles 06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 172k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU 91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 142k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete 19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi Fourteen other MB's owned and sold 1961 Very Tolerant Wife |
#3
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What weight oil did you use? Synthetic or dino?
Looks like a nice car, pictures of the engine might help Id where it is going....take your milage with a huge grain of salt!
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#4
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@Shertex, Thanks for the instructions. I followed them to the T and here is what it gave. It's just about the same as when I was reading it cold. I guess it must be going somewhere. But like I said I don't see any smoke and it's not dripping any oil...
@ cooljay, I put Shell Rotella 15W40 dino oil. I'll take a few pics tomorrow when the sun comes up. I noticed quite a bit of built up oil around the oil pan gasket, also a bit of black around the oil cap, so I'm sure I'm losing some from there. But I find it hard to believe that I could lose what seems like almost 7 quarts without a drop on the driveway or any sign of smoke... Also I don't know what to make of the fact that I added 1/2 a quart earlier today and the level didn't budge... Ya the odometer is anybody's guess as to whether it's true or not. I like to believe it is |
#5
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I was going to say if you were using synthetic or a low weight oil, it will burn off really fast.
Sometimes a low mile example may be worse then a 300k example....yours may be suffering from this. If your going down the freeway....you may not notice smoke....specially if you have an egr system....it may just be sucking the smoke right back into the intake... While running if you take the oil cap off, do you notice a lot of blow by?
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#6
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Ok, you say almost empty. Do you mean it just dropped to the bottom of the dip stick? Since you have a non-turbo they are geared pretty low and spin over fairly fast on the highway. My 1979 300D used to burn a fair amount of oil if I did a lot of highway driving at or above 100km\h. And this was without any sign of smoke.
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2004 F150 4.6L -My Daily 2007 Volvo XC70 -Wife's Daily 1998 Ford F150 -Rear ended 1989 J-spec 420SEL -passed onto its new keeper 1982 BMW 733i -fixed and traded for the 420SEL 2003 Volvo V70 5 Speed -scrapped 1997 E290 Turbo Diesel Wagon -traded for above 1992 BMW 525i -traded in 1990 Silver 300TE -hated the M103 1985 Grey 380SE Diesel Conversion, 2.47 rear end, ABS -Sold, really should have kept this one 1979 Silver 300D "The Silver Slug" -Sold |
#7
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Showing a half inch on the stick is probably still a long way from empty. Wet sump oil systems can run at idle with a lot of it missing and still maintain full oil pressure. Higher engine speeds can suck the sump dry more easily. Add a quart or half quart at a time until you get up to the recommended level.
That oil has to have gone somewhere. How much driving did you do in between checks?
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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar. 83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles 08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles 88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress. |
#8
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To quantify things, find out (someone will know) the volume difference between min and max marks on your dipstick, start with it at max level, and see how many miles it takes to us x quantity of oil. Of course be aware of the fact that some of our cars use oil from max down to about halfway on dipstick, then level off.
At any rate, it certainly sounds like you're using oil at a fairly rapid rate.
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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 154k miles 06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 172k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU 91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 142k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete 19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi Fourteen other MB's owned and sold 1961 Very Tolerant Wife |
#9
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Ok well it must be burning oil. I thought I would notice smoke but it sounds like that's not always the case. From the photos here it looks like I'm losing a bit around the oil pan but like I said earlier, not enough for a drip.
I've probably driven about 1000 miles since the oil change. Thanks for pointing out that an inch up on the dipstick is a long way from empty. I'll go ahead and top it off, adding 1/2 a quart at a time. @ cooljay, how do I do a blow by test and what does it indicate? |
#10
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from tip of the stick to the top mark is 4 quarts...
from bottom mark to top mark is 2 quarts. if you were still showing at all on the stick, you still had at least 5 quarts in the sump, and were not in danger of running dry, but it's not a good situation. pull your valve cover, and change the gasket, adjust the valves, and clean out the tube that the vent line plumbs to.
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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread "as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do! My drivers: 1987 190D 2.5Turbo 1987 190D 2.5Turbo 1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!! 1987 300TD 1987 300TD 1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere! |
#11
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Quote:
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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life- '15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800) '17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k) '09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k) '13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k) '01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km) '16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k) |
#12
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Hmmm
all of mine 79 - 85 had a 2 quart range between marks...
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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread "as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do! My drivers: 1987 190D 2.5Turbo 1987 190D 2.5Turbo 1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!! 1987 300TD 1987 300TD 1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere! |
#13
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On my OM617 it is ~1 quart. Always has been.
The M103 has a ~2 quart range from max to min.
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http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/7...144c3fc1dc.jpg |
#14
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To do a blow by test, just remove this oil fill cap and see if you get a lot of smoke out of the top....place the cap back on, with out locking and see if it dances back n forth...
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#15
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I agree, 1qt between high and low.
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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg 1995 E420 Schwarz 1995 E300 Weiss #1987 300D Sturmmachine #1991 300D Nearly Perfect #1994 E320 Cabriolet #1995 E320 Touring #1985 300D Sedan OBK #42 |
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