Unbelievable!!!#!@#!@
 

Was cruising down the freeway yesterday when I heard a CLUNK. Then I lost power. Saw my oil light. Oh Sh!!!t! Drifted over to the right. In the No. 1 lane, the engine quit. Managed to stop on the shoulder.

Shell Rotella syn was flooding from the car. The left front wheel was slathered with oil. Oil was splattered all along the driver's side of my newly repainted MB. Even misted over the trunk.

The oil cooler lay on the ground next to the front tire. The belly pan was gone. I had the car towed to Enrique in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. He will reattach to cooler and see if my 602 engine and turbo survived the blowout.

Can't believe it. I had rebuilt the engine after it bent a rod -- caused by a faulty injection pump ruined by an incompetent mechanic fiddling with an IP leak. I've spared no $$$$ on this car.

Now this (poor me...LOL)!

Only one option: Fix it. There's no value, to me or anyone else, in a glossy w124 300D 2.5 with a cream-colored near-perfect interior, that doesn't run.

Will keep you posted...

I only have one word....BUMMER!!:(

Hey, sorry to hear about your engine. I have one question, did the oil cooler assembly come apart on its own, or did you hit something in the road? I had to swere just the other day to miss a 2x4 about a foot long that fell off a moving flatbed semi trailer at 75 mph and was coming at me like a rabid skateboard:eek:

I think I hit something. The belly pan sheared off. And my mechanic said there are holes and pits in the oil cooler and oil lines. New parts are on order, and only new oil and a test fire will tell whether I've ruined the engine.

:(

Hope everything is ok and the damage was just confined to the cooler, and other items phycically damaged....Goodluck

If you have collision insurance on that vehicle, your policy will pay for these repairs. If the engine is totaled that might be the way to go.

If you have collision insurance on that vehicle, your policy will pay for these repairs. If the engine is totaled that might be the way to go.
Better preserve the evidence that you in fact struck something.

I was talking to a gentleman who told me about his dad's 300CD, and how he hit something and totaled the engine. The insurance company paid for a brand new engine.

SAVE THAT OIL COOLER!
 

Old Deis makes good point, make sure to save save the old oil cooler.

I wonder if you have an automatic shut-down mechanism that detects when oil gets too low for safe operation...?
I have one on my pressure washer with a 11hp Honda make sense if they'd engineer them in cars too huh?

keep us posted>
good luck
dave

Those low oil pressure shutoffs are required by Coast Guard regulations on gasoline powered boats with electric fuel pumps. They're pretty easy to wire in to a gas engine since they simply shut off the ignition. I haven't seen a similar set up on a diesel.

Drag cars sometimes run a big red oil light. It lights up if oil pressure drops below a predetermined point. Seems like a worthwhile addition. Just make sure the light is big enough and bright enough to get your attention. RT

Someone on the board is working on an audible low oil pressure alarm. I hope he posts the system, parts and how to do it.

Sorry to hear that. Best of luck during your repair.

If the proponents of synthetic oil are correct, your engine should have survived with no damage. To read some of the testimonials, some people manage to drive for hundreds of miles with no oil and no damage. It'll be interesting to see if your name is added to those testimonials.
Hope all turns out well.

dana, so sorry to hear about this. fixing the car is the wise thing to do because you are obviously attached to it. i think it's worth it to. hang in there! i take my car in for an estimate today on a road hazard damage.

eric

What about the car behind you? Did he get an oil shower?

call your insurance man before you do any more work. you may need to document the damage.

i ripped an oil pan off once and the shock of the impact killed the motor, thus no internal damage.

check the motor and trans mounts to make sure they are okay.

low pressure/ high temp alarms are available from boating retailers, but something that happens that fast is tough to catch.

good luck.

here's some advice with insurance...

you don't want them to deam your incident as collision insurance. if you can get them to claim it on comprehensive coverage, you'll be fine and just get away with paying a deductable.

i ran over a wire that punctured a sidewall in my tire and whipped around in my wheel well damaging my fender, doors, and wheel. they were about to say it was collision until i told them the wire was unavoidable and not my fault because it fell off a truck. the problem is, if whatever you hit was just sitting there in the road, and you hit it, they would deam that collision- and your fault, and your rates would go up. the object had to fall from a truck or something in order for it to be comprehensive and no rate increase.

then i got an estimate for mine and they will cut me a check for that minus the deductable and i get whatever i want to have fixed - the rest goes in my pocket. right now it looks like $1,348.

Visited my long-lost MB pal today and she runs beautifully. Newly rebuilt engine is spotless. Clatters like a good diesel should. Even has a new squirt of R-12. All she needs is a belly pan and I'm good to go.

My engine was fried, detonated. At least one rod-bearing was fused to the crank. Timing tensioner broke, ripping the front cover plate. Rods awry. Other stuff too numerous to mention. A real mess.

My choices: 1) rebuild the engine, installing a new OEM crankshaft ($2,800), rods (more $$), and lots of misc. parts 2) buy an OEM block set ($5,500) plus the labor for installing it 3) or find a new/old engine.

My luck, it turns out, wasn't completedly gone. My mechanic found a 12-year-old 2.5T engine, sitting on a salvage shelf, with a bad head. Absolutely no crank wear, not a mark. I bought it ($2,000). Used the essential parts to rebuild my old block. Engine like new. Even have some trick extras, including a spare injector pump.

Unfortunately, I'm footing the bill, as I had only liability coverage for what was supposed to be a weekend driver. You KNOW that will change...LOL.

Thank you for the support.

Man, that's a stroke of great luck! Keep that 2.5 Turbo runnin'! Sounds like a great car. Sorry to hear about your damage....

Did your insurance end up doing anything for you? I was hoping for a MB rebuilt engine for ya...

-m

On a side note, the "oil light" on that car is the oil LEVEL light. And it is on a 60-second delay. That means your car had been running on zero oil for 60 seconds before it lit up! Ouch. There is no visible or audible warning for a sudden loss of oil pressure on Mercedes - one of their few major flaws. You are expected to watch the oil pressure needle like a hawk.

Anyway, I 'm glad you got it fixed - and will be adding at least comprehensive coverage! ;) Also, I'd skip the Rotella synthetic in the future... stick good synthetics instead (Mobil, RedLine, Amsoil, etc.) Not that they would have saved your engine from this kind of catastrophe, though. :(


Best regards,

No, have already resigned myself to picking up the tab. I'll also run Delvac 1, which I'm committed to using in my TDI, as soon as I drop the break-in oil.

The upside is that, apart from some minor wood damage, my Benz is cherry, with a brand new engine good for my 500,000 mile (or metric equivalent) grill badge. A lifer -- as long as diesel is sold in CA :p .

I've been searching for anyone here who has installed an audible LOW oil pressure ALARM.

I'm very interested to install such a device in my 87 300D. Based on what I've read here in the search, a low oil pressure alarm would sound just below the lowest running pressure to ensure enough time to shut the engine down in the event of oil pump, or oil pump chain, sproket, failure.

I would like to locate a supplier of oil pressure sensors that would be applicable here.

Anyone have any advise?

Steve........................................

Here's from an old post. I did this a while back and it still works fine. May help some or at least give you some ideas.

"NO/LOW oil pressure warning system on 300SD 1984. This is what I did, you may have another way.

Usual cleanliness, safety warnings apply.
If you do this wrong, your oil WILL run out of your engine and ruin your day!!!! Check all joints and connections on the bench FIRST!!!
Obviously, YOU need to verify ALL before proceeding. I hope this helps, but I can't be responsible. (yada, yada yada, lawyer, yada, atty., yada, yada).

Parts:
Radio Shack 12v. buzzer (cheap)
Radio Shack red LED (with built in resistor)
12mm X 1.5 male X 1/8" NPT female adapter (steel)
1/8" NPT street "T" (has a male with two females)(brass)
1/8" male X 1/4" female adapter(brass)
mid '80's Audi or VW (water cooled) oil pressure sender for idiot light) (~6 psi. ?) (cheap)
Tools:
1/8" NPT tap
1/8" NPT die
12mm.X1.5 tap

Try here for fittings http://www.fittingsandadapters.com/

If you have access to machining tools or can find other appropriate METRIC fittings (I looked everywhere for other metric fittigs and found nothing that fit this purpose) you can do this much more easily. A metric street "T" would make this nice, but it eluded me. Maybe someone has a source?

1. Remove the oil pressure sending unit from your car with a pan underneath. You will drip out ~ 1/2 pint of oil, then it will stop.

2. Braze (I soldered with a torch and plumber's solder) into the threads (small thickness of braze or solder) of the female side of the 1/8 male X 1/4 female adapter. Now retap that side with the 12mm. X 1.5 tap. You'll be surprised how close they were already. This is where your original Mercedes oil sender will eventually go, so be attentive.

3. Tap and die all 1/8" NPT threads in the "T" and adapters with the 1/8" NPT tap and/or die to clean them up and deepen the amount of "bite" for security. You'll see what I mean when you dry fit them.

4. The Audi/VW sender has a 10mm thread. Take your 1/8" die and run it over that. Yes,... rethread the 10mm. on the Audi sender and make it 1/8" NPT. They are SOOO close to start, after you run the 1/8" NPT die over it, they match quite well.

5. Assembly:
a. 12mm. X 1.5 male X 1/8 NPT female adapter goes into the oil filter housing (use an aluminum crush washer)
b. male of the street "T" goes into female of that adapter.
c. Audi/VW sender (rethreaded to 1/8" NPT) goes into the side branch of the "T".
d. 1/8" male X 1/4" female (brazed and retapped to 12mm. X 1.5 thread pitch) adapter goes into end of the "T"
e. Original Mercedes sender goes into the retapped end of that adapter (use an aluminum crush washer). Reconnect original wire.
f. Put a new wire (with spade connector) to the connector on the VW sender and run it to the buzzer. Connect other side of buzzer to a "start/on" hot lead. Connect the LED in parallel with the buzzer and place buzzer and LED where you want to.

I have all of the hardware done on my car and am running around to check and recheck stability and for any leaks. I have not hooked up the buzzer yet, since I have a few things to do at the same time to my instrument cluster. (my modified gas engine inst. panel with economy gauge as a boost gauge for the turbodiesel needs calibrating). The buzzer may get annoying since I expect it to buzz whenever the key is on without the engine running(oil pressure less than 6 psi). We will see if I go with only the light long term. Since 6psi is the same as zero, as far as I'm concerned, it should work to warn of a pesky ruptured oil cooler hose, broken filter canister bolt, road rage bullet through oil cooler (this is SoCal after all) or what not.

FWIW that's what I've done.

Edit: Hooked it all up with 0.3 bar VW switch and it works perfectly. LED right in between gauges and buzzer is unmistakeable.
__________________

Wow. Blast from the past. Since this calamity, I've had to rebuilt my tranny. Just completed a 5K trip with some tanks getting 36 mpg. I love my car :p .

heartbreak(r)
 

I hope the 602 is alright.

'should we start thinking about some form of metallic shield for our oil coolers?

Wow!!

Awesome writeup JBAJ007 !

I think I'll work on this for my '84 SD.

One question, I have some lights that I pulled out of a 70's model Audi...they are 12v and look like they belong in a dashboard or on a center console. (obviously, to get attention, that wouldn't be where I put it for this...but in my '72 280SE 3.5 I used them to tell me if the fog/driving lights were on).

They do not have a resistor built in....but then again, they're not LED's either.

I'll post a picture of one or two if I can...but do you think this will work?