Cam Followers 300SDL
 

Hello All

I replaced all of the cam followers in my 87 300sdl. Run nice and quiet until warm-up tapping starts again, could it be a like of oil causing hyd lifters to fail?

Thanks MikeSDL

Have you replaced the o-rings on the center "bolt" on the oil filter? These are not in the filter box, and when they get hard, they leak and reduce oil pressure to the lifter gallery. Usually causes excess noise on startup from oil draining out, but I don't see why it couldn't also cause warm noise instead.

Peter

Thanks Peter

I did not change the o-ring yet, Would that cause low oil pressure
seems like only the front three cycles

Thanks

Dr. Diesel commited suicide. He was in horrendous debt and had lost control of his patents, and apperantly couldn't face the upcoming civil trials.

Not every genius is a business man.

Peter

Will do a oil change ASAP, The oil gauge read full pressure but I have been running plan 15w 40 motor oil. Is there a good cleaner to run before dropping the oil? Thanks

Delo 400
 

I have used Delo 400 in my company trucks, backhoes and diesel equipment for over 25 years. I have also used it in a 1985 300sd since 1994 and a 350sdl since 2000. The sdl now has noise under the valve cover and the 300sd ticks like a dream. Is Delo 400 approved by the group or should I go HIGHTECH?

Jim Maddox
300sd
350sdl
unimog DoKa Diesel

One of my lifters started tapping about 1,000 miles after I changed the oil to Mobil 1 5w-30. It's intermittant, and fairly annoying. The next oil change will be done with Redline 15w-40 Synthetic Diesel Oil. It's rediculously expensive, but we'll see what happens. $80.00 for an oil change, ouch.

The Diesel version of Mobil 1 that you're thinking about is Delvac 1. Hard to find and expensive, at about $22-$25 per gallon. My E300 has happily run about 50,000 miles on Amsoil Heavy Duty Marine and Diesel engine oil (15W-40). You can get it delivered to your door from http://www.lubespecialist.com for about $16 per gallon.

It's $8.00/quart at the Sunoco station up the street, and I'm adding in the cost of an oil filter (approximate cost).

According to the owner's manual, my engine uses 8.5 quarts of oil. I plan on doing an oil analysis and running the Redline for 10,000 miles.

The TDI held 4.5 quarts of oil... I used Redline 15w-40 SDO in that too.

Mobil 1 15W 50 works great -- I use it in all the diesels (except the 220D-- 4 quarts to a tank of fuel!). Delvac 1 is hard to find here.

MB modifed the oil capacity for the 603 to 8 L from 8.5L (the maximum mark) because that was overfilling and the oil was rapidly lost.

The two marks on the stick are really maximum and minimum, not full and add -- 2 quarts between them. You should NEVER fill over the top mark, it will cause the oil to foam and at the very least burn off fast. Trying to keep the oil to the maximum mark can run quite a bit of oil through it -- I know of several cases where "excessive oil consumption" was cured by not adding oil til the low mark was reached -- 500 miles to the middle, 3000 to the lower mark.....

Many MBs, gas or diesel, will burn off anything over halfway between the marks, so don't add until you reach the lower mark. On my 300D, this is also the oil change reminder, as it takes about 6000 miles to get that low.

Peter

Good to know, as I only put in 8 quarts at the last oil change. :) So far it doesn't look like it's burning any, which is something that i'm extremely thrilled with.

Uptank:

Delo is fine if you change it every 3000 miles. Delvac 1 will go 6000 or more between changes, your choice. The synthetic will usually cure the rattling tappets on a 603 -- sure did on mine, but it took a while (no rattle now, 20,000 miles ago it clanked).

Peter

To clarify TSB 01_021A, issued in April '91 modified the oil capacity to 7.5L from 8.0L. Don't overfill. ;)

The sdl now has noise under the valve cover . . .
 

I have the same problem with the 603. Sometimes it makes a tapping noise below 1500 rpm. Most times it does not. Usually evident after a good run, two hours or more. I recently changed the oil to Rotella synthetic and this has served to make the problem more pronounced!

After the oil pressure comes up to 3.0 (at 1500 rpm) the noise disappears.

Very annoying.:mad:

How old are your lifters?
Can they be pulled easily from the engine ?
If so maybe you need to either replace them... or take them out and clean them by putting them into a can of lacquer thinner one at a time and using a drill press or something to depress them several times.... to get the built up varnish dissolved and out...
then put into whatever oil you use and repeat before putting back into the engine....
You should be able to get the specs for how many pounds of force is supposed to be needed to depress them a certain distance... maybe you have a weak or broken spring in one....

Of course we have been avoiding the really obvious answer... switch to a 617 engine....Then you can enjoy setting the valves along with the rest of us....