Sounds like excessive blowby. You can check by loosening the oil filler cap with the engine running (don't take it completely off -- oil will fly off the cam and go everwhere). If you get big clouds of vapor, you have too much blowby.

This can come from worn rings/liners or from bad valve guide seals/guides. The latter is cheaper to fix than the former.

There will always be some oil in there on an older diesel, as they all have some blowby. Even a brand new rebuild will have a little.

What is your oil consumption like? If you aren't using much, I'd not worry about it. If you are using a quart to a tank of fuel or more, you have a problem.

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!