The crankcase will pressurize with the blowby hose crimped off. Worse as the engine goes faster under load.

The gasses will most likely blow out the dipstick tube, carring oil mist and droplets with them, and deposit the oil on the dipstick cap. From there, it will run down the oustide of the dipstick tube and all over everywhere.

The O-ring for the air filter oil drain will also probably leak, and oil will end up everywhere from there, too.

Hopefully you didn't unseat anything and the leak will go away with the blowby tube open.

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!

Alex, and everyone,
I also have a 300td 5 cylinder. an 1985. I have a tremendous oil leak. I lost threee quarts before I noticed it.

Embarassing to admit for my first post(I've only had the vehicle two weeks.) I am noticing a strong hiss from the engine periodically and then billows of blueish smoke, I am guessing turbo related. Did you notice any increase in smoking throughtout this 60 miles you are talking about?
I think that the turbo is dumping oil every so often, giving me these clouds. And I also have had drastic losses in power. I have been running on my first 60 gallons of biodeisel so I may have a few problems stacked together. Hoping that the oil leak and the power loss aren't related and I am changing the fuel filters int he morning. I am also going to clean the fuel sending unit. Bio is a great cleaner, but I have a story that the first few tanks loosen up a lot of old cruds. Anyone agree.
Anyway.
I don't have a totally clogged breather tube, but I have noticed that someone put on a straight peice of hose, the cheap fix, instead of getting the molded elbow. I suppose that's enough to create this back pressure?
Thanks for the informing photos!

Coleman,
Well, it turns out that all that oil that came out (which was only about a quarter of a quart, maybe less) was because of my clogged, disconnected breather that was forcing the pressure to come out of the oil separator oil drain tube. So, when I cleaned up and reconnected the breather tube, all was well. I did have a burning smell in the cabing for a little bit, but that was probably the smell of the left over oil burning off on the exhaust down pipe, or the degreaser I used to clean everything up. The only smoke I noticed during the whole ordeal was smoke coming out of the engine compartment at the stop light after a long-ish highway run (it was 25 miles, that's probably not long for some of the mid-westerners here).

You might be having a compression problem or something wrong with the cylinder rings. Those usually go hand in hand with power loss and oil consumption. Someone will tell you to do a leakdown test or a compression test. Oh wait, you said you have an oil leak, not consumption.

I really don't know what to tell you. Maybe you want to re-post what you wrote in a new thread. people probably won't read this anymore. Sorry I can't be of more help. I'm a moron.

Alex

__________________
1983 300D (parked for four years)
2012 VW Sportwagen TDI Manual
2001 Miata SE
1962 Chevrolet Corvair Rampside

Coleman:

Clouds of blueish smoke and low power makes me think of a bad turbocharger -- when the bearings go bad (usually from not letting it cool off properly), the wobble of the shaft ruins the oil seals, and oil goes both down the intake and out the exhaust. What goes down the intake gets burned, you have to be dumping huge amounts down there to get blue smoke, but the oil that runs in the the exhaust will only partially burn, causing blue smoke.

The hissing could be noise from the turbo, and power loss without the turbo running is VERY noticeable... you will NOT get black smoke at full throttle if the turbo is whacked.

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!

What is PROPER turbo COOL OFF?

I'm new to my MB and I want to make sure I am doing things proper.

Thanks.

__________________
"If anyone knows other lessons I need to learn, please tell me. I'm tired of learning them the hard way".
by JerryBro

The Glow Plug Wait: This waiting period is a moment of silence to pay honor to Rudolph Diesel. The longer you own your diesel the more honor you will give him". by SD Blue

My normal daily life; either SNAFUed- Situation Normal... All Fouled Up, or FUBARed- Fouled Up Beyond All Repair

62 UNIMOG Camper w/617 Turbo, 85 300SD daily driver- both powered by blended UCO fuels

Dieselhard:

I'll bet there is at least a minute of off throttle time between your high speed at wide throttle and when you shut the engine off -- I don't bother to idle mine down, either, and although I had to replace the turbo on the Volvo, it was dead when I got it, I didn't know it at the time. If, however, you are using dino oil rather than synthetic, and you pull off the interstate into a rest stop with a short entrance, that turbine wheel could still be nearly white hot! Will coke the oil (turn it into glassy carbon, which is a pretty good abrasive!) for sure.

Synthetic oil makes all this very much less likely, but I still idle down any time I've been at speed and NOT spent some time at a stop light, driven a half a mile or more at low speed, etc. Certainly, idling down isn't going to HURT the turbo, and coking oil on the turbo bearings will!

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!

Exhaust temp at the turbine wheel will reach 1150 or 1200 F, yellow red to yellow white, at full power, such as a long upgrade. Plenty hot enough to fry the oil, even synthetic! Gas turbos can get MUCH hotter!

I think I remember that grade, but going the other way (up to San Fransicso) some years ago. Signs say "trucks use lower gears" on that side, sorta like the run from Flagstaff to Phoenix.....

If I've been on the interstate, I idle down, just to be safe. Big PITA to change a turbo, like to never go the oil lines back on the Volvo.

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!