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  #1  
Old 02-02-2020, 10:22 AM
1983 300CD's Avatar
Old Benz New Wrench
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Hill Country
Posts: 248
Ever seen an OM617 oil line fail like this? (AKA She's dead Jim)

Never had a chance. I even turned the key off at 70mph 3100rpm at night in steady highway traffic. Wide open breach. It went in seconds. Such an odd failure. The rubber and the crimp is solid as ever. The nightmare of finding a known good engine begins.

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Ever seen an OM617 oil line fail like this? (AKA She's dead Jim)-tupac%3Dcaput.jpg  
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  #2  
Old 02-02-2020, 10:44 AM
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This is why I don't drive cars with external oil lines/coolers

Quote:
Originally Posted by 1983 300CD View Post
The nightmare of finding a known good engine begins.
IF your engine got damaged then just put new rod bearings in. If the crank got damaged then grind it to next undersize.

That's what I would do if I had good compression
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  #3  
Old 02-02-2020, 12:04 PM
vwnate1's Avatar
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Sunny So. Cal. !
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Exclamation Oh, Boy ~

My condolences .
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1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better
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  #4  
Old 02-02-2020, 12:32 PM
vstech's Avatar
DD MOD, HVAC,MCP,Mac,GMAC
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Mount Holly, NC
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I have a few good ones...
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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!
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  #5  
Old 02-02-2020, 12:39 PM
vstech's Avatar
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Location: Mount Holly, NC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 1983 300CD View Post
Never had a chance. I even turned the key off at 70mph 3100rpm at night in steady highway traffic. Wide open breach. It went in seconds. Such an odd failure. The rubber and the crimp is solid as ever. The nightmare of finding a known good engine begins.
I have seen the ps belt cut the rubber due to the motor mount sagging...
I have seen the radiator fittings fail, I have seen the steel lines broken from impact or fatigue... but no... I have not ever seen a Mercedes shoot out the line from the crimp like that...

When oil is dumped at speed... you don’t notice it until all the oil is pumped out on the road, and pressure drops... or the motor starts to seize...

Odds are good, the crank has lost its heat treat, the cam towers are wasted, and the pistons have galled the block...

If you need a good long block or complete engine, let me know. Shipping to TX shouldn’t be too bad.
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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!
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  #6  
Old 02-02-2020, 12:54 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vstech View Post
Odds are good, the crank has lost its heat treat, the cam towers are wasted, and the pistons have galled the block...

If he shut it off within like 10-15 seconds then he should have little to no damage and he should just fix the oil line and be back on the road. What's he got to lose? nothing.

if he ran like this for a minute or so then he probably damaged the rod bearings/crank.

It would take even longer than that to damage the rings/cylinders
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  #7  
Old 02-02-2020, 02:44 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by christuna View Post
If he shut it off within like 10-15 seconds then he should have little to no damage and he should just fix the oil line and be back on the road. What's he got to lose? nothing.

if he ran like this for a minute or so then he probably damaged the rod bearings/crank.

It would take even longer than that to damage the rings/cylinders
How do you know it happened in 15 seconds? One of my clients has a BMW 540D, about 2016, I forget exactly, his computer will issue an audible alarm for such things as temp, going over 73mph, things like that. Not sure if it has some 'oil pressure dropping' signal.

I know I would love to have such a thing on my cars. The radiator on my 300SDL blew in Oct., if I hadn't noticed the little radiator looking icon/idiot light blink on, alerting me to the temp gauge, I might have fried the motor. I hadn't yet seen steam through the windshield. An audible alarm for such things would be fantastic.

One of my oil lines on my newly acquired 300D was leaking. Would leave by far the largest oil spot, among several, on the driveway. I read that at first sign of leakage - replace. You can't watch the oil pressure gauge all the time. I try to glance once minute or so but I'm sure I lapse into apathy and forget.

Our Kent-like buddy was saying on a vid that they weren't happy with the quality of aftermarket oil cooler lines they were seeing so they were able to get some high quality lines made in Germany by Monark. I was thinking, OK, I'll bite. Turns out the vid was made in 2014 IIRC and those items are out of stock if not NLA. I found some the aftermarket offerings that may be those he was disparaging. The upper line as a Cohline, I seem to recall the only lower line I found was from a different manufacturer. I searched for reviews, nothing bad came up.

That was a tough job. I got dude's PDF instructions, and it helped though I discovered a few hints I would have added.

Anybody know about Cohline quality?
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  #8  
Old 02-02-2020, 02:52 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cmac2012 View Post
How do you know it happened in 15 seconds?

I don't I said IF

regardless of how long it took him to shut off he has nothing to lose by putting a new oil cooler line in and running it.


Quote:
Originally Posted by cmac2012 View Post
The radiator on my 300SDL blew in Oct., if I hadn't noticed the little radiator looking icon/idiot light blink on, alerting me to the temp gauge, I might have fried the motor.

Nice thing about 1986 and newer benzes is that they have low coolant level/low oil level lights
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  #9  
Old 02-02-2020, 05:27 PM
1983 300CD's Avatar
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I cannot tell how long it took but I saw what I thought at the moment was smoke in the headlights of the cars behind me and new that this engine doesn't do that at speed. Of course it was a fog of oil. That took me to the gauge sitting at zero. From what I understand even sustained pressure under 10psi will do damage. No idea how long it was at zero. If I had 15 seconds and then I didn't catch it until 20 seconds? As it is the motor absolutely will not turn at the crank. Plus it rolls in Drive so the transmission went when the motor stopped but the car was still rolling at full speed? I couldn't see their face but when I turned the key off at speed in the middle lane my passenger was like WTF!?

I will email you vstech. If you say an engine is 'known good' then that will cover it. Several engines out there but they have zero data/history from the seller.
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  #10  
Old 02-02-2020, 05:27 PM
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Well thats a first... Never seen a failure like that on the forums... kind of scary actually....
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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
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  #11  
Old 02-02-2020, 05:51 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 1983 300CD View Post
As it is the motor absolutely will not turn at the crank.

that's bad. starter engages only in P or N have you tried turning it by the crank pulley?


Quote:
Originally Posted by 1983 300CD View Post
Plus it rolls in Drive so the transmission went when the motor stopped but the car was still rolling at full speed?


It's normal for a car to roll in drive with the engine off.
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  #12  
Old 02-02-2020, 06:12 PM
Diesel user
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 39
I had a similar issue cause one of my 2 OM617 failures. Mine was a poor attempt at an oil line repair, using a woefully inadequate clamp to hold a hose on the steel line. I drove the car around in town for days with no issues at all, then went onto the highway. I watched the oil needle fall and killed the engine as it was falling and still had melted bearings. The oil cooler has a T-stat that will not open until high temperatures are achieved.

If the car is in gear, even without engine power, these transmissions have a rear pump that will allow the driveshaft to turn the engine. There were many a day I had to roll start mine. IIRC you need to get to about 40 mph before it'll start the engine, but I was usually doing it on -10 f or below days and I lived on a very large hill.
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  #13  
Old 02-02-2020, 06:29 PM
1983 300CD's Avatar
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Yep, I must say that one is downright wicked. Hose and crimp all fine. Even worse you can't get much larger of a line failure than the full diameter. A split line at idle is one thing. This was just a hemorrhage. I appreciate the condolences that are coming in. I know it's just a motor but I did go through all of the phases of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

Yes tried turning it at the crank in neutral. I really put some force on it. Nothing.

Sounds like I need to find a way to properly check the transmission on a dead car or just disregard this idea I got in my head.

From what I understand Cohline is the best production line avail now but no one does a final protective wrap on the rubber hoses like the OE lines did. I have since found an NOS set of Mercedes lines with Stars on the crimps and Conti Tech(Contintental) on the wrapped hoses. The lines on the car are clearly aftermarket but still, no line should fail like that. I still have faith in OE hoses. They're 20 year hoses from what I've seen. Anything else will be getting brazed at the metal joint I guess. I'll add a new service interval since the lines are now aftermarket only. Change the lines whenever you're doing motor mounts.

Last edited by 1983 300CD; 02-02-2020 at 06:46 PM.
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  #14  
Old 02-02-2020, 06:59 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 1983 300CD View Post
Yes tried turning it at the crank in neutral. I really put some force on it. Nothing.

r.i.p. engine
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  #15  
Old 02-02-2020, 07:19 PM
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It is amazing how fast a motor will destroy itself with no oil. In the past I have read stories where people have drained/lost their super duper synthetic and it went 10 more laps etc etc... No way.

In the mid 90s I flew out west for a (photography) assignment and rented a Dodge Stratus. When finished I drove the 17 mile dirt road through the Valley of The Gods in Utah. I got a couple miles in and noticed the car was losing power, gave it more gas then turned down the radio which was up loud. Heard bad knocking lifted the throttle and that was it. Engine locked tight, starter wouldn't turn it.
Learned the hard way Stratus had a low hanging oil filter, a rock ripped a gash.

Started walking back to the road, car went about 100 yards or so after all the oil drained out... then I came across a two inch stripe of oil in the road all the way back to the rock.

I was very surprised how little distance was covered before the motor was locked solid junk.

My nice '83 300CD has original oil cooler hoses that seem okay, now I'm nervous. Terrible bad luck of the OP. All the best to you and hope you find a great replacement if original is toast.
Come warm weather gotta figure out quality replacement oil lines.
Maybe a nice Aeroquip setup like I've seen done on this forum. Have to search and study.

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