Took a look at a very nice 92 300D 2.5 Turbo today. 284,000 miles.. exceptionally maintained.

Owner says suddenly the car started smoking heavily. They took it to a local shop which pulled the valve cover and said nothing was wrong with the valvetrain.. must be a head or lower engine problem.

Upon startup it gives off a very nice stream of grey smoke which smells like burning oil - not coolant. The coolant tank is clean with no oil deposits. The dipstick shows no signs of water in the oil.

I took it only up and down thier driveway and the smoke from just that literally fogged out the neighborhood.. it was unbearable. The car also had little power. After that I noticed RAW OIL dripping out of the tailpipe and making a small puddle.

Needless to say the engine needs some major work.. any ideas on what it needs? What do you think this car is worth? Is it worth finding a good used 2.5 engine to put in?

no matter what, your bargaining position should be based on the assumption that it needs a new engine, so you shouldn't be paying much. At idle, remove the oil filler cap. Is it loud?, does the cap blow off (not stay put under it's own weight while unlatched) if yes, possible ring/piston damage. Is the oil engine oil or diesel fuel?

Definately engine oil. I didn't think to open the oil fill cap and check the blowby or hear noises.

It did run slightly rough and make some valvetrain/injector ticking but I did not hear any knocking or heavy engine noises.

I'm sitting here wondering if there is an issue with the injection pump? I guess the best way to tell would be to try to get a compression test.

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Jim

It's not really the smoke that scared me.. its the raw oil running out of the exhaust.. that scares me. What would cause such a thing other than something majorly wrong with the bottom end? How would an injection pump problem cause this?

I've seen antifreeze come out of a Nissan tailpipe and as a dumb teenager, I still made it home and after a head cut and new gasket, it lived to see another day. If the coolant can leak into the exhaust flow, I would imagine that an oil passage could do the same. It could be simply a blown gasket or worse, a cracked head. I am no expert of course and would defer to wiser more seasoned posters, but I figured my thought could be a good starting point. Good luck with it though.

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2008 GL320CDI 6K
1970 280SL 112K
1982 240D 210K (Sold)
1973 220D 220K (Sold)
1967 200D 160K (Sold)
1992 400E 139K (Sold)
1988 300E 148K (Sold)
1987 300D 257K (Sold)
1991 300E 108K (Sold)
1987 300E 131K (Sold)
1978 300D TMU (Sold)
1980 300D TMU (Sold)
MBCA Member

Sorry - I did not pick up on the oil running out the exhaust. Worn out turbo bearings or a failed piston can cause this.

I have seen a chip pusher at work continue to run after it had been shut off smoking like heck the whole time. Seems the turbo had failed and was providing enough oil to the engine to keep it running. You shoulda seen the operators face when he jumped down off the unit. My first guess would be a bad turbo.

There is the same car with basically the same mileage near here for sale. No rust, a/c does not work but it drives good/does not smoke except during hard acceleration. Runs like a bat out of heck. Been sitting there for sale for over a month now and the tag said $4k back then. I've been thinking about calling the guy and offering $2500 to see what he says. Are you interested in one of these cars?

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Jim

Hmm... interesting idea about the turbo. Could the seal failure be instant like the owner says? Would account for no power, too.

EDIT: but would it be smoking at idle with a turbo seal/bearing failure?

It was the worn out seals in the turbo on the chip pusher. You could have some of the same stuff in this application.

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Jim

The owner was looking for around $2500 for this one.. I am going to offer less than half that since he really wants to get it out of his driveway. At this point I don't think I'm interested for over $1000-$1200. His brother owns a towing company and can tow it to my house.

I want to get opinons of what it may be.. I would either fix the engine myself or buy a used engine and put it in myself.. I have the urge for a project car.

The car is in excellent condition inside and out otherwise.. Black with Tan MB-Tex.

i would also suspect sudden catastrophic turbo seal failure. I've talked to some mechanics and they stood the exhaust on end for days for oil to drip out of it and then even with the new turbo fogged the neighborhood for a while until it cleared up.

Brian

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Brian Toscano

Ok since you guys seem to think it's the turbo.. and one other person I talked to also thinks it's the turbo what do you guys think it's worth? What will a turbo rebuild cost me?

I think its the turbo seals also, you could try operating the car with no turbo (very sluggish, just to see if the smoke goes away) if you plug the oil lines you can run the car with no exhaust (pity the neighbors!)
A rebuilt turbo for a 300D OM617 ran me $350. http://www.majesticturbo.com/
DDH

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

Isn't this the year the diesels had a problem with bent rods???
I heard they run without knocking noise.

You are right on the year but wrong car. The problematic engines were 3.5L 6-cylinders found in the 300SD. This engine is a 2.5L 5-cylinder.