Kirk:

MB does call these things OM of oil motor -- you can burn immense quantities without blue smoke, believe me. The old 220 uses a quart in a hundred miles or so -- each quarter tank -- and makes NO blue smoke. Scary!

However, it is impossible to start below 32 F unless you use the block heater, and runs rough on top of that, with low power. You would definitely notice.

If this problem suddenly showed up, I still think something is plugged somewhere. If you have only slow vapor trailing out with the engine at 2500 rpm it isn't blowby!

Some other things to check, since we seem to be fishing now -- is there any oil on the FRONT of the engine? What condition is the valve cover gasket, and did you remove it for any reason recently? Done any work on the PS pump or AC? Do you have oil on the valve cover too, or just the block?

Sorry to ask so many questions, but I'm trying to cover all the leaks I've found personally.

A bad valve cover gasket will dribble oil everywhere, but most noticably down the side of the block, and a lot will collect on the rear of the engine since it sits on a slant.

A front seal going bad will put oil everywhere, as it will fly off the balancer. It will appear to be coming from the left front because the accesories and intake/exhaust catch it on the other side. Oil everywhere, can drip off the torque converter housing. My brother left the wear ring out of his 300c (didn't know it was supposed to be there, was missing on both the old and new blocks!). Used about a quart in 200 miles, oily mess. Cured by installing a wear ring (duh!) and a new seal.

There are a number of bolts or caps that extend into the chain case. Any of those leaking will dribble oil down the front or left side of the engine, and the air from the fan will spread it around, just like from the front seal. We had also left a crunch washer out from under a cap, that cut the oil leak down a bit when we installed it.

Hope this helps -- if you don't have oil smoke blowing out the dipstick tube, you don't have a blowby problem. My dipstick is normaly not all the way down from the pressure.

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

Hey Kirk:

Driving behind you the other night, I thought you were a mosquito fogger. Seriously, seemed kind of normal at times and at others it was clearly burning my eyes.
I turned into Krispy Kreme donuts half for the donuts and half because of the fog

Wish I could help but I'm out of thoughts

Don

__________________
DAILY DRIVERS:
'84 300DT 298k (Aubrey's)
'99.5 Jetta TDI IV 251k (Julie's)
'97 Jetta TDI 127k (Amber's)
'97 Jetta TDI 186k (Matt's)
'96 Passat TDI 237k (Don's
'84 300D 211k Mint (Arne- Undergoing Greasecar Conversion)

SOLD:
'82 240D 229k (Matt's - Converted-300DT w/ 4 speed

Since we're making wild guesses, how about this one:
The breather hose looks normal when the hood is up, but is squashed closed by the hood pad when the hood is down.

__________________
Palangi

2004 C240 Wagon 203.261 Baby Benz
2008 ML320 CDI Highway Cruiser
2006 Toyota Prius, Saving the Planet @ 48 mpg
2000 F-150, Destroying the Planet @ 20 mpg



TRUMP .......... WHITEHOUSE
HILLARY .........JAILHOUSE
BERNIE .......... NUTHOUSE
0BAMA .......... OUTHOUSE

Peter,
I wouldn't classify the puffing out the dipstick tube as "slow" - Ijust referred to it as light vs. heavy.

No oil on the front of the engine. Valve cover is not where it is all coming from. No, havn't done any work on AC or PS lately, or to block.

Don,
#1 - Don't forget that before we "touched them off at the light and leaving the parking lot we both sat in a traffic line stagnant for 10 minutes or so idling, ie, I don't doubt that she was "loaded up" with extra fuel to burn off as we ROCKETED out of there.
#2 - It was dark outside and the smoke shows up real well in the headlights (especially yours when you are BEHIND me), I think it's easy to see smoke in the headlights at night but not as easy to discern the color of it. For the most part it should have been more blackish than blue.
#3 - I ran a bottle of diesel purge thru her Saturday morning and she smokes even less now.
#4 - I'm not saying my wagon doesn't smoke at all, what I'm saying is too me (under normal driving conditions, ie.. not shortly after a cold start-up or not after sitting in traffic or at a light allowing the fuel to load up) mine smokes relatively little compared to other diesels I've witnessed out there, especially considering how many miles are on her.
#5 - you need to follow me again during daylight hours, and after she's been running down the road and she's not loaded up from a prolonged idle and then tell me if you see excessive smoke under acceleration - then and only then may you tell me she looks like a mosquito fogger!
#6 - oh, yeah I almost forgot, if your eyes were burning that's another indication of fuel laiden smoke, not oil.

SWAG - good idea about the breather hose being squashed - that could be a possibility because my hood pad is severely deteriorated and I'm always getting chunks falling off. I will check that clearance tonight.

I may be wrong but I think that the reason most diesel engines can have so much blowby without burning much oil is because of the fact that there really is nothing actually burning inside a diesel engine...hence no spark necessary.
So...the bad new is that your engine probably is badly worn out even though the oil burning is minimal. Good luck, only a Benz would run at all with these problems and 300,000 miles.

__________________
1982 300D Turbo "Helga"
380,000 miles