With the engine warm (indicating greater than 80 degrees,) I can accelerate nicely in my 1984 300D TurboDiesel. At night with lights from other cars behind, and barely visible in the daytime, I can see smoke in the rear view mirror when I put my foot down on the accelerator. The engine starts first time, every time, even down to 10-15 degrees F with no block heater (indicating good compression.)

Is this normal? Do I have any adjustments or maintenance to perform to diminish the smoke. The folks behind me probably don't like to breathe such polution. I am presently trying to run a little Marvel Mystery Oil to mitigate the smoke and clean the fuel system.

Thanks,
Michael Smith

My SD does the same. I was told to check valve adjustment and timing chain stretch (for IP timing). Haven't.

Sixto
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD

My first question is when did this start? And how many miles are on this car? I would tend to think that timing chain stretch cannot be that bad if your acceleration is still good. But if I had to guess about your mileage I would say it is probably high enough that at the very least your valve stem seals are shot and your valve guides are worn and allowing oil to enter the combustion chamber. However, this would only happen when you are not accelerating; i.e. not using the turbo boost, but when you are cruising. Now the oil seals on your turbo could be shot too. The other possibility is that since the smoke is also white, you may have a bad head gasket allowing coolant into the combustion chamber. You might check your oil for moisture; check your coolant level and check for fuel/oil in the coolant. Plus smell the exhaust. If it smells sweet your burning antifreeze. Otherwise see if you can tell if it smells like burning oil. From what I remember, Diesel burns black, oil burns gray/black and coolant is just white steam. Good luck.