1984 190D 2.2 Five Speed Manual 271K Miles...

[iamtheosprey]

...and it smokes like a freight train.

Tons of blowby out the oil fill hole and from the dipstick.

Burns about a quart of oil every 150 miles.

Still gets 34-35 mpg highway traveling 80mph.

What is going on?

EDIT: There is no blowby coming out the oil dipstick tube. I was flashing back to another vehicle I had recently.

[jake12tech]

Some things that come to mind with smoking, oil burning:
a): Piston Rings
b): Valve Guides
and much more..

My 1980 240D kicked the bucket at 335K with minimal blow-by, little oil consumption for a car with its miles but it was maintained religiously. I'd still drive it if rust didn't take over. At 271K miles it isn't worth the bother, I'd look for another motor if the rest of the car is good. W201 Diesels are few and far between these days.

[iamtheosprey]

How could it still get factory MPG if it had serious engine wear?

It also fires right up every time.

No hesitation.

If it had worn rings wouldn't it lose compression?

Could it maybe just have one really bad ring?

If so, there is a LOT of blowby...scary, fumy blowby coming out the valve cover vent hose....

I have looked for a replacement engine.

Apparently, this was a very early 1984 therefore more complicated to find a replacement apparently.

I don't know if I should get another engine and try to make it work if it's even possible.

I don't even know if different engine will bolt up to my flywheel/transmission.

[iamtheosprey]

Originally Posted by jake12tech

Some things that come to mind with smoking, oil burning:
a): Piston Rings
b): Valve Guides
and much more..

My 1980 240D kicked the bucket at 335K with minimal blow-by, little oil consumption for a car with its miles but it was maintained religiously. I'd still drive it if rust didn't take over. At 271K miles it isn't worth the bother, I'd look for another motor if the rest of the car is good. W201 Diesels are few and far between these days.

Do you know what the valve guides are made of?

If they're rubber wouldn't a gasket sweller found in high mileage motor oils maybe help?

[Skippy]

A compression test may help you find your problem. A leakdown test will help more. Do both and you will very likely find the problem. My first guess is valve guides.

I used to have a Suzuki Samurai. The little 1.3 litre four banger in these was usually good for about 130,000 miles before overhaul. Mine had 180,000 when I bought it. It used rather a lot of oil, and smoked a good bit, but still delivered good fuel economy and as much power as you could ask from an engine originally rated at 60 hp. The person I sold it to did valve guides shortly after and it ran just as well while no longer smoking or using much oil.

[vstech]

Smoke and blow by in a na motor can come from valve seals (simple and cheap to repair), valve guides(simple to fix, but costly), rings... Ip timing, chain wear, headgasket...

The 2.5 motor, both na and turbo will bolt up, and fit in the car... The 3.0 will bolt up, but fitting is another story... A 6 cylinder did come in that body in gasser form...

[pawoSD]

Its not really getting factory MPG's if you are also burning a gallon of oil between fillups. Sounds like worn rings to me.....valve guides would have to be in horrible shape to cause that as diesels do not operate with vacuum and thus do not really have suction to pull much oil past the valve seals....usually.

My OM601 has a fair amount of blowby but uses no oil at all between 5,000 mile changes and still fires up no problem even in negative temps. (as low as -10F last winter)...engine has about 265k on it. Have replaced:
-Timing chain
-Delivery valve seals
-Vac Pump
-Hydraulic Lifters
-Injector Nozzles
-Air Cleaner Bushings and filter
-All belt drive components
-Glow Plugs

If its that worn out at 271k there's a chance earlier in its life that it did not get proper oil changes....

[Walkenvol]

Originally Posted by iamtheosprey

Still gets 34-35 mpg highway traveling 80mph.

What is going on?

Somethings wrong as some of these are reported to get 52 mpg's?

A quart of oil every 150 miles is a major problem if its not leaking out on the ground. Along with the serious blowby and smoking you've got a path from the crankcase to the cylinders. 271K is a lot of miles for a poorly cared for motor and a rebuild is probably more than the car's value? What's the condition of the rest of the car? Is it worth finding a rusted out example and transplanting a motor?

[neumann]

try a water injection setup to see,if it clears up the blowby

[barry12345]

May have a partial open path between the number one cylinder and the oil feed passage to the head. This could create both oil consumption and severe blowby. Technically it would not be blowby as cylinder loss would display as higher volume flow of air and combustion products entering the oiling system and pushing stuff out the oil filler hole. Plus lots of exhaust smoke.

I would pull the first and second injectors and inspect for wetness in comparison. Or even turning the engine over with the first injector removed looking for oil spray out the hole.

Other than that is probably general wear but on the other side of the coin head gasket failure in the way I describe is not unknown. It is the way I would approach the problem first anyways.

[cooljjay]

Phew, thought someone was asking about my car again

My 78 is exactly as described, I will replace the valve seals as they are easy....but I don't have the tail pipe smoke...

She doesn't burn oil around town, so my feelings....going to keep her going till there is no life left in the engine.

Point being, Some times you just gotta face the music...

[moon161]

Mmo soak?

[iamtheosprey]

Originally Posted by Walkenvol

Somethings wrong as some of these are reported to get 52 mpg's?

A quart of oil every 150 miles is a major problem if its not leaking out on the ground. Along with the serious blowby and smoking you've got a path from the crankcase to the cylinders. 271K is a lot of miles for a poorly cared for motor and a rebuild is probably more than the car's value? What's the condition of the rest of the car? Is it worth finding a rusted out example and transplanting a motor?

I don't hypermile.

I drive at 80 mph on the interstate.

Some people claim to get 30+ mpg from W123 NA 300D's too....but Mercedes and my own real world experience says they only will get 24 mpg.

[whunter]

Originally Posted by iamtheosprey

...and it smokes like a freight train.

Tons of blowby out the oil fill hole and from the dipstick.

Burns about a quart of oil every 150 miles.

Still gets 34-35 mpg highway traveling 80mph.

What is going on?

EDIT: There is no blow-by coming out the oil dipstick tube. I was flashing back to another vehicle I had recently.

Top three thoughts:

#1. Lift pump leaking into the crankcase.
#2. Bad valve guides.
#3. Bad head gasket or cracked head.

All of these are fairly common at your reported mileage.

.

[chasinthesun]

In a 190d 2.2 I owned it had a severe engine demise ,the cam broke in 2 places over cylinder one and two ,was this a cam bearing ? If replacing cam bearings is easy and not costly I would also consider it in your repairs.