I have noticed that the padding on my hood above the turbocharger is blasted with soot and heat, also there seems to be some oil on the large ball and socket looking joint on the trubo right next to the engine block ( i will put a pic if i can get my black, greasy hands on a digi camera). is my turbo leaking? i dont hear any whines and i cant feel any power-loss as my 300 had no power to begin with!
also i noticed that the recesses in the block that house the fuel injectors and the braded glow plug wires are soaked in diesel whats going on there? has this happened to anyone else?
thanks in advance.

I have similar issues with a slight fuel leakage at two of my injectors. Right now the two are only damp and not soaked. Also, the braided tube that runs from injector to injector is a fuel return line. I don't know injector theory and can't explain why, but some fuel doesn't get injected and has to have a return path. These return fuel hoses get old and are a known leakage problem.

The glow plug wires should be lower down on the head - on the order of three or four inches below the injectors. They have heavy wire attached to them and they just look like electrical terminals sticking out of the engine.

Can't help you with the turbo oil leak - haven't tackled that. I did have a loose breather hose that runs from the valve cover (just behind the oil fill cap) to the air filter housing. That made the car puff oil smoke from under the hood while idling at stoplights (embarrassing) and blew a little oil on the hood.

My hood pad is long gone. I have a new one to install when I have time to get down to car projects that are at that level of importance! Most of my projects are a bit more urgent...

Ken300D

Turbos generally don't leak oil externally except at the oil supply and drain lines. Most oil leaks are internal and show up as oil in the intake and blue exhaust smoke.

The soot and heat are probably from a bad seal at the exhaust side of the turbo at the exhaust pipe. Could also be a leaking EGR valve (between the intake and exhaust). The seal on the operating shaft can go bad and leak soot and exhaust.

Replace the EGR if it is leaking exhaust -- there are carbon monoxide issues as well as soot, and disconnecting it won't fix the leak.

Lack of turbo whine is usually a sign of bad bearings -- take the intake hose off ENGINE STOPPED, PLEASE and try to spin the turbo wheel by hand. It should turn with a small amount of resistance and spin a turn or so if you twist it hard. No axial play, a small amount of side-to-side play, no rough spots in rotation. Oil on the wheel and not in the blowby tube means the seals in the turbo are shot, and need replaced.

Typical bearing/seal replacement without major work is about $400 here in Indiana, "cartridge" replacement (boring out the body and putting in an insert because the bearings were too far gone) is about $750, new turbo about $1200.

Overflow lines will need to be replaced on a regular basis -- mine go about three years. Some of the fuel leaks out around the spring holder in the injector (2000 psi and almost anything will leak!) and is drained off down the lines, along with the excess fuel from the IP. If they are wet, you are losing quite a bit of fuel -- you won't see in on the grounds as it evaporates off the engine.

Peter

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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!