For those who have been following my crazy oil-burning-second opinion-2 turbo-replacement saga, here's how it sits.

I went back to the mechanic today after road testing my second turbo for a week. Car still smokes badly on startups and pull-aways. No discernable improvement. I have reached an agreement with the shop to keep the new turbo (may smoke a bit less) and get 1/2 of my money back on the whole job.

Other than that, looks like it’s the engine. Since I can't afford to spend the money on a rebuild, they suggest that I put "straight 50" in the car and just drive it 'til it gets too bad. Sad.

Sorry I haven't been following your bit. Fill me in...what color is the smoke? Only on startup and acceleration? What makes you think it is the turbo? How is your oil consumption?

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'85 300SD (formerly california emissions)
'08 Chevy Tahoe
'93 Ducati 900 SS
'79 Kawasaki KZ 650
'86 Kawasaki KX 250
'88 Kawasaki KDX200
'71 Hodaka Ace 100
'72 Triumph T100R

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/91080-smokin-update-mechanical-malpractice-post602180.html

You never really responded to any of the comments on the last post. All of them seem like good places to start. Have you checked your coolant? Head gasket maybe? I have seen cars run fine with a cracked head gasket. The white smoke thing confuses me. If it were black I would suggest turning down the ALDA. It it were blue, I would suggest a compression test. (did your mechanic ever do one?) White suggests you are burning water. Your mechanic said there was oil in the turbo. My turbo had oil in it too when I took it off. A decent amount of oil gets in there from the vent tube. My car never had white smoke though.

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'85 300SD (formerly california emissions)
'08 Chevy Tahoe
'93 Ducati 900 SS
'79 Kawasaki KZ 650
'86 Kawasaki KX 250
'88 Kawasaki KDX200
'71 Hodaka Ace 100
'72 Triumph T100R

I'd like to know what the smoke smells like.

Oily?

Diesel?

Little/No smell?


Depending on which it is we can tell you what the problem is, there's no magic going on here, and if it's still starting alright and running ok, it really can't be all that bad. Your mechanic does not know what the hell he's doing. Oil in a diesel turbo like this is normal.

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One more Radar Lover gone...
1982 VW Caddy diesel 406K 1.9L AAZ
1994 E320 195K

Did you check your pump (ignition) timing?

And this was supposed to be the great mechanic with all the experience.

How many times do we have to hear on the board how great some mechanic is, only to find out he is clueless?

As I said before, there are great mechanics out there but they are hard to find. Most are hacks.

Fix it yourself or sell it and buy a rice box.

Here's my attempt to help. Does it consume oil? How much? Is it consuming coolant? Has the IP timing been checked? Who did this? Was it done correctly?

I have an 83 300D and smoked like crazy at idle because the PO tried to have someone "tune it up" for him. It was probably one of those great mechanics with 25 years of experience working on Mercedes diesels.

240Joe

Joe,
Where do you live? It's not in your sig so there's no way we could steer you to a REAL Mercedes tech who knows what they are doing.

Please advise. If you are in either the So Cal or the SF Bay Area. I know of two guys that can steer you right.

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Nate Stanley
(Currently Benzless)
1985 F-250 6.9l 170K
2009 SCION XB 36.5K
2003 LS430 78K
2012 Kubota B 2320

JoeAugust have you tried pulling off the oil filler cap with the engine running? If there is no blow-by the engine should be in pretty good shape. It sounds like a fuel or timeing problem to me.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Nate....I am at an undisclosed located for obvious reasons.

Hatter....I don't believe removing the oil filler cap while the engine is running is a very reliable diagnostic method for these engines. I've seen some blow oil everywhere but run great.

240Joe

240joe,
No offense intended, but I was asking this of the author of the thread, Joe August--

Nate

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Nate Stanley
(Currently Benzless)
1985 F-250 6.9l 170K
2009 SCION XB 36.5K
2003 LS430 78K
2012 Kubota B 2320

240Joe sure it is, if the compression is low on all the cylinders they will run great. Pulling off the oil cap is just a simple field test to see how good the bottom end is. I have also seen many engines with a lot of blow by that run great, my Toyota is a perfect example of this.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Obvious reasons? On the lamb?

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Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

I am in Brooklyn Heights NY.

I know there is a fair amount of blow-by going on, but really -the engine seems like it's in great shape. If I didn't look out the rear view, I wouldn't know I had a problem..

I've seen some suggestions of a Mechanic named Vito in staten Island who can supposedly can work wonders with Diesels. I'm gonna maybe give him a call.

Joe