Blow By????
 

How much blow by is normal with 187,000 miles?? Got a steady cloud out the breather tube but the engine cranks real well and seems to have good compression.

Do a search. You'll find lots of threads on this topic. There is a great deal of reported differences in blowby on otherwise healthy engines. One test that is suggested is to block the breather tube and count the number of seconds before the engine shuts down. The longer the time the better. I do not recommend this because it puts a lot of pressure on the seals.
I suggested at one time that we all agree to use a standard 40 gallon trash bag, attach it to the breather tube and measure how long it takes to inflate. That'e the only objective test I have been able to imagine.
A general consensus seems to be that as long as the engine has power and starts well when cold, the amount of blow by is largely irrelevant.

The OM 616/617 can go a long way before needing overhauling. Mine lasted 525000km before needing an engine job.

Forgot to add the 0 and km.

Gurkha,

Here we go again.

Your engine needing an overhaul at 52,500 seems very low. Mine has almost 5 times that amount of miles and doesn't need an overhaul.

BTW, are your numbers miles or km?

P E H

I'm trying to trace an oil leak from the back end of the engine - I notice that if I drive the car hard, 300td w123, then I get a bigger pool of oil deposited on the garage floor compared to if I pamper it.

With oil filler cap off, I get a gentle chugging of gasses exiting - I'm wondering if my leaks are due to excess pressure blowing oil thru engine seals.

I do need to check the breather system to see if that working okay ...

Just soem thoughts...

Steve

Well it leaks more when driving harder simply because you're running higher oil pressures when doing so. You normally have to have quite a flow of air blowing by before it becomes problematic.