My car is consuming a lot of oil, actually I think it might be leaking a lot of oil and consuming some. (About a quart every 450 miles)

After I drive about 200 miles, the rear of the car is speckled with oil splatters. This is different than the exhaust smoke remnants that I used to get a little of. This is just a huge number of small splats of oil. Can anyone tell me what the cause of this might be?

The problem began appearing after the car was overfilled with oil a couple of months ago. Since then, I get occasional surging and occasional rough idling. Giving the car a little more throttle solves both problems and both are very intermittent, though they do seem to happen at once.

This weekend, I am planning on cleaning up the engine compartment and running the engine while looking for leaks, doing a valve adjustment, checking the compression, and seeing if the rack damper bolt needs to be adjusted.

I am just wondering if that oil in the exhaust might be related to these other issues I am trying to tease out.

1982 300TD Turbo

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82 Mercedes 300TD Turbo

My car was leaking oil from the bottom of the oil filter housing pretty bad. I had the same oil spots on the rear of the car. Mine was so bad that when I'd pass a car on the highway I could see them hit the windshield wipers.

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'85 300SD (formerly california emissions)
'08 Chevy Tahoe
'93 Ducati 900 SS
'79 Kawasaki KZ 650
'86 Kawasaki KX 250
'88 Kawasaki KDX200
'71 Hodaka Ace 100
'72 Triumph T100R

My turbo oil return line was leaking tremendously, and it would spray oil all over the back hatch of the wagon. I just rtv'd all around it, after cleaning everything up of course....

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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

a friend of mine commented on my oil spray...I guess I'll hunt for an oil leak tomorrow

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RIP: 80 300SD
RIP: 79 450SEL
2002 E430 4matic (212,000km)
2002 ML500 'sport'

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FACEBOOK: PANZER450

And Damnit! I sat down at my computer to post a thread about that....drat.
o-well I'll have to find something else..

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RIP: 80 300SD
RIP: 79 450SEL
2002 E430 4matic (212,000km)
2002 ML500 'sport'

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FACEBOOK: PANZER450

So it sounds like the fact that there are oil splatters all the way on the back of the hatch does not necessarily mean that the oil was coming out of the exhaust.

My turbo is definitely on the list of things that need to be checked for leaks since my main oil leak (besides the rear engine seal) is in the front right of the engine compartment. I have previously cleaned it up but have not been as diligent as I should have been when looking for leaks in that area. When I take the turbo-to-air-filter elbow off, I notice a lot of oil and the two seals on each end of that elbow are fairly new.

Would it be a terrible idea to run my car for 20 minutes at idle without the air filter on? I could, perhaps, put a couple of layers of panty hose over the air intake to keep the dust out. This might make it easier for me to figure out where the leak is coming from. Would I be endangering my engine by doing this?

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82 Mercedes 300TD Turbo

Well, let's think safety here first.

That turbo impeller is spinning VERY fast and the suction on that thing, even at idle is incredible and very dangerous. I wouldn't cover it with anything but a paint can lid to keep crap out while the engine is off.

I wouldn't be poking around in there looking for an oil leak with that thing un protected...

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RIP: 80 300SD
RIP: 79 450SEL
2002 E430 4matic (212,000km)
2002 ML500 'sport'

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FACEBOOK: PANZER450

Its fine to idle the engine w/out the filter for 20 mins, I would not try to put panty hose on it tho.

It seems alot less dangerous than the mechanical cooling fan.

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Cheers,
Robert

cooling fan doesn't suck your finger into it as it chops..

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RIP: 80 300SD
RIP: 79 450SEL
2002 E430 4matic (212,000km)
2002 ML500 'sport'

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FACEBOOK: PANZER450

I always appreciate it when people stop me from doing something dangerous.

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82 Mercedes 300TD Turbo

I had the same problem. Replaced the turbo oil return tube, bought a dry, good used turbo, and haven't had any oil leaks. Make sure your turbo isn't leaking. Good luck on all of it. Bill

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1982 300
1984 300cd
2005 GMC Yukon
1967 GTO Hardtop x 2
1967 GTO Conv.
2002 Harley Softail Classic

My 1982 300TD did the same thing and it was the turbo oil return line. I didn't have any luck with the RTV trick so what I did was use my neighbors sawzall and cut the metal return line so that I didn't have to pull the turbo or manifold. Then I used the new hardware to repair the leak and when I put it back together I used a short section of 3/4" rubber hose to join the two halves. Still wasn't an easy project, but when I was done it didn't cost much, like $10 in hardware and the leak was fixed.

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Currently driving a very clean 1985 300SD from the West Coast.

Yeah, its fine to run any engine without an air cleaner as long as its not extremely dusty or something that day.

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Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

As long as they would add one additional commandment for you to keep thy religion to thyself.
George Carlin (Wonder where he is now..)

1981 240d (engine donor 1983 240d) recently rebuilt engine hurray! - No more.. fought a tree and the tree won.

pearl black 1983 240d 4speed (Converted!@$$%) atleast the tranny was rebuilt.