Hi guys. I got a 1982 300d turbo. I love this car, but it won't go anywhere. It will start but there is a knocking noise in it. As soon as I try to drive it quits. Before it became totally undriveable, I was driving on the interstate and it would start to surge at 55mph and it had no more power to get beyond that. I pulled over and there was oil all over the engine. It appeared to come out of the dipstick, but maybe it came from the oil cooler hose. I don't know. Anyway the oil on the dipstick looked bone dry. I got some oil filled it up and drove about 10 miles back home.

I let it set overnight and checked the oil. The oil was way to full about twice what it should be. I know the dipstick showed no oil the night before.

I drain the oil and start the car it sounds fine. I check the oil. The level is perfect. I take it for a test drive it still won't get over 55mph, but this time it quits it loses all power and the engine starts knocking. I have it towed home. No garage I found would take it.

Here is a video of the car idling. I hope someone can tell me if the engine is gone or what. I had one mechanic say it sounds like a bad fuel injector. He works on those big diesel trucks and says when one goes bad they sound like the engine is knocking. I had another guy say its definitley a blown valve. One guy told me he has never worked on a diesel, but its definetly a blown rod.

Any ideas?

By the way, just before it quit on my test drive the oil pressure guage went to 0. I don't know if that was because the engine was losing power or what.

heres the video link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ghp-uCJt_u4

That knock or clack shakes the whole car. Is it hopeless or can I fix it without getting another engine?



UPDATE 7/24/07

Ok I checked the fuel injectors and they appear to be ok. I loosened each one individually and they sprayed gas at a steady rythmn. Sometimes I would losen them and the car would quit, but I'm assuming that was just because I losened them to much.

I will take the valve cover off next. I put up another video of my car idling. When I take off the oil filler cap the noise is more intense. Its seems to definitely come from the top part of the engine. Look at the video and notice how much smoke is coming out of the oil fill hole. I don't ever remember that much coming from it before. I do remember just a little bit coming out of it when she ran good. If thats normal then again excuse my ignorance.

When I take the valve cover off is there anything I should be looking for to figure out if its a bad valve or cam lobe? Or will it be obvious that something is out of whack?

Heres the latest video

Oh and the oil pressure guage stays pegged to 3 for some reason. Even when idling.


Update #2 The Valve Cover Is Off

Well I took the valve cover off and started it. I don't see anything that looks out of the ordinary. I put a video of this up to. What do you guys think?

Idling with valve cover off video

It does not sound like a bad injector to me. Pull the valve cover and see if anything looks amiss. Adjust the valves while you are in there. It sounds like a loose valve, but VERY loud!

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

The oil pressure has me worried.
I have a feeling that's not a valve noise but more like a rod knocking. It's too loud. You would certainly lose oil pressure with a bad bearing. Try cracking the injector lines when its running. If the sound goes away then you've found your bad rod.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

Thanks by "cracking" the fuel injector lines, do you mean disconnecting them one by one to see if the sound stops?
Oh, and does a bad rod mean an engine replacement? Sorry if thats a dumb question, but I only know enough to work on them if I've had the problem before. If its a new problem then I'm ignorant.

I was gonna say rod, but the noise seems too high pitched to me. I would def pull valve cover and see if you have oil squirting on the rockers, and see that they are all moving up and down like they should.

Ok I'll do that. I'm praying its something relatively cheap like that.

That doesn't sound cheap......

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

Cracking them only takes loosening the nuts at the injectors by about a 1/2 turn with a 17MM wrench. Some fuel will leak out but it shouldn't spray. The car will run rough momentarily until you tighten the nut back up again.
If its a bad rod bearing, it'll more than likely have damaged the crank. To replace a damaged crank requires tearing down the entire engine. I did that on one engine I have this past Saturday. Most of the rod bearings were gone on this engine. I never heard this engine run but I imagine it sounded much worse than yours before it died. I have a thread about the tear down.
I hope this is not what is wrong with your engine.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

.

Take a look at the primary fuel filter and see if it has a bunch of air in it.

You could possibly have a clogged fuel filter ( one of the three on the car )
Or an air leak into the fuel system.

If your engine is starved for fuel this kills power and can cause injector nailing.

Thank you
RichC

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When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix

My guess is one of the cam lobs gone caused by the low oil pressure. Probably an exhaust valve causing very high pressure in the associated cylender. The oil pressure could be caused by stoped up drain back holes in the head which explaines the "no oil on the stick, then overfull the next day".

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84 500 SEL (307,xxx miles)

I am guessing the same as the big rig mechanic for a couple of reasons.

If it was a rod bearing, the engine would sound like it was coming apart by hammering and downright deafening at 55mph.

It "sounds" like top-end noise. I believe I still hear the other injectors purr.

Empty then overfilled oil. If the engine oil became diluted enough with fuel, it would burn off at higher temps, hence...low oil then overfilled afterwards with a cooler engine.

With a completely failed injector, it should be very noticable if you pull them and reconnect them to the fuel line, suspended in air, and check for spray pattern.

Not to rain on your parade but oil that has become diluted to that point may have caused irreversible damage. The only way to tell is to repair the fuel problem, do a couple of oil changes and see what happens. However, you never know.........The best thing is to try it and hope for the best.

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Sam

84 300SD 350K+ miles ( Blue Belle )

You guys are all awesome. Keep the input coming! Ok, I'm gonna start with the fuel injectors and see if there is a problem.

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Comfort is a w123 seat

I'd say it's not a rod knock. It's not deep enough or loud enough for a rod. Something in the top end.
What does a problem with the vacuum pump sound like?
I was thinking about plugged oil drain tubes also but it would be hard to imagine all the oil being held in the valve cover. I can't really explain what happened to the oil. But if there was a lot of oil in the engine compartment some must have been blown out somewhere.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Yep, sounds like top end knocking. But, since You Tube stuff usually does not have full acoustics, I do not hear lower engine noise either. It sounded like a gasser V-8 with a bad lifter, flattening cam lobe, or pushrod.

How is the oil pressure? Is it between 1 and 2 bars at idle them jump to 3 as you accelerate?

Check the vacuum pump as well. Do you have good vacuum? Test it with a mity vac.

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RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

91 W124 300D Turbo replaced, Pressure W/G actuator installed. 210K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

To clarify about the sound: It sounds like its coming from the top front of the engine.

I updated my original post in case anyone missed it.

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Comfort is a w123 seat