83 240D, why is my engine losing oil; how do I stop it..?

[Carrameow]

Aside from the obvious reasons, such as it going past the rings, why is my engine using oil? I think most of it is going out the Rear Seal.
I was thinking of running a vacuum line to my crankcase.
This engine ran beuatifully until last year and has been maintained well and doesnthave that many miles on it.
Any solutions and ideas? The only thing unordinary is I cracked the aluminum line on the exhaust manifold running to the Intake EGR preheat and I plugged the hole on the Exhaust manifold instaed of rplacing the aluminum line.

I would hate to give up on this car.......

83 240D, why is my engine losing oil?

[kerry]

Need more info. First thing you should do is check for leaks. Park on a clean spot or put some newspaper or cardboard under your car when you stop after a hard drive and see if there are any drips. Report back to us.

[TimFreeh]

Is your car leaking oil or is it burning oil?

You also mention it was running well until last year - Is that to say its not running well now?

Tim

[Carrameow]

Theres a puddle everytime I park it..

[Stevo]

Carrameow

As you probably already know the rear seal is a problem as you have to pull the engine to fix it, which is not a big deal if you have a place to do it. You sure its not the oil filter housing to block gasket or the rear of the valve cover gasket?

[adamb]

Perhaps you could run the oil at the half-full or slightly lower mark and also ensure the crank-case ventilation is working properly.
My car leaks out of the rear main if I am at the full mark and doesn't when half full. Some seal-swell stuff is a temporary fix as well as thicker oil, but none "fix" the problem if you know what I mean.

[kerry]

Are you sure it is the rear seal? A leak from the oil filter housing to block gasket leaks in almost the same area. If it is the rear seal, the bottom half can be replaced without pulling the engine and crankshaft. I would consider giving that a try before taking the engine out.

[BoostnBenz]

My 84 300D had an oil leak at the rear of the motor I once thought was caused from a rear main seal leak, however it turned out to be a leak between the block and head. I ended up buying some new bolts and the 12pt tool to torque them down, afterwards the leak either stopped or slowed so much that it wasn't very noticeable. There were many puddles under the car when it was leaking.... Are you certain it is the rear main?

[Stevo]

"the bottom half can be replaced without pulling the engine "

Kerry.........
Mine leaks a little, about a qt in 3K from the time I rebuilt the engine, dont know how I screwed up but I,m not pulling the engine

[BoostnBenz]

Try a synthetic? While it'll more than likely cause the leak to get worse at first I hear after a period of 5-15k miles it may start sealing the leak off.