Last week I was replacing some overflow fuel lines on my wife's '87TD. In the process I removed the intake crossover "pipe" that goes over the valve cover. Much to my surprise, it was caked with wet sludge. A long time ago I had removed this pipe and it was just soot. So now there is a mixture of soot and oil, hence the sludge. I looked down the pipe on the turbo side and the evidence of oil goes only down to the EGR valve. The pipe below that, going down to the turbo is spotless. Looking inside the plenum (sp), it too is coated with sludge. I painstakingly cleaned out the crossover pipe and the portion down to the EGR valve. Since it appeared that the oil was originating from the EGR valve, I removed it to have a look. My thinking was that it was coming from the exhaust and that the EGR was letting it into the intake. Well the EGR was bone dry. Again this was a week ago. I just checked the progress on this oil and though it's not as bad as before, there is significant traces of oil in the crossover pipe leading down towards the EGR end of it. The car presently has 208,000 miles on it, the headgasket was done 2 yrs ago at 184,000 miles (oil in coolant). The head received a complete valve job and replaced the 6 exhaust valve guides. The oil gets changed religously at 3K intervals using Delo 400 15W-40.
Any ideas would be appreciated.

One more thing, the car in recent months, has seemed to have lost some of it's power. For those with these engines, know that they can haul a#$ for a diesel.

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1999 MB SL500 (110,000 mi)
2004 Volvo V70 2.5T (220,000 mi)
2014 Tesla Model S 85 (136,000 mi)
MBCA member

i would suggest blocking off the egr... does no good for your engine whatsoever.

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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.
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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.

I am going to do that, though I don't know if that is causing my oil situation. As I mentioned, I thought at first it was, but when I pulled the EGR valve off, the plunger portion that faces the exhaust side was bone dry.

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1999 MB SL500 (110,000 mi)
2004 Volvo V70 2.5T (220,000 mi)
2014 Tesla Model S 85 (136,000 mi)
MBCA member

Is there oil in the plastic pipe between the air cleaner and the turbo? Is there oil on the turbo inlet flange?

Sixto
87 300D

I haven't torn into it that much. When I removed the crossover pipe, I looked down the turbo side of the intake. It was spotless from the hole where the EGR connects, down towards the turbo. Everything above where the EGR vavle is connected was covered in sludge. This is why I took off the EGR valve. My thought was that excessive oil was in the exhaust stream and since the EGR valve recirculates a portion of the exhaust, that I would see oil all over the EGR valve body and in the pipe that taps off the exhaust. However, it was completely dry. The only portion of the EGR valve that was wet was where it connects to the forementioned intake piping.
My wife just left for work, so I will have dig into it later. I will take some pictures as well. That should help show what I am talking about.
Now on an engine where the breather pipe coming off the valve cover and goes into the air cleaner, and there was oil in the air filter, then that would suggest excessive blowby. However, on these engines the breather hose goes down to the hose between the air filter and the turbo. My thinking, which could be wrong, is that if excessive oil was going down that breather hose, that it would then get kicked up into the intake pipe leading up towards the egr valve and beyond. However, that pipe coming off the turbo is spotless up to the EGR valve.

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1999 MB SL500 (110,000 mi)
2004 Volvo V70 2.5T (220,000 mi)
2014 Tesla Model S 85 (136,000 mi)
MBCA member

go buy a tdi vw.you will get good at cleaning out intakes.most of em get pretty much plugged solid in 100,000 miles.as you noted it was after the egr valve.which is exactly the same as my jetta.just oily film before the egr,sludge after.this is the problem.the oil vapors are mixing with the exhaust from the egr thus the sooty sludge.as mentioned disconnect the egr and your problems will be gone.

We need to define the term "spotless".

I'll define it as "not a trace of moisture due to oil............no oil film on the inside surface of the tube............perfectly clean".

If it's truly "spotless", then I'm confounded as to your issue. But, I don't believe it's "spotless". I believe there is oil on the surfaces prior to the EGR valve.............but, it's a film of oil that clings to the surfaces. Once the oil gets to the valve, the input of exhaust combines with the oil to produce a sludge like material that builds up in the intake tract over time. If plain oil is introduced to the tract, it simply moves with the airstream and is burned in the combustion chambers.

There is almost no possibility of the oil originating from the exhaust stream and entering the intake tract via the EGR valve, and, hence the perfectly dry valve face.

Brian, that is a very good point about there most likely being a film of oil below the egr. I will indeed check for that. Let's say that is the case, then is that a "bad sign". As I mentioned in my first post, a long time ago I had removed this crossover pipe and there was soot build up, but not one trace of oil. It was bone dry. Now, and who knows for how long, oil is getting into the intake system. This would be the classic blow by. I haven't tried to run the engine with the oil cap off, but I will now. What's puzzeling is that the head was completely rebuilt only 2 yrs ago.

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1999 MB SL500 (110,000 mi)
2004 Volvo V70 2.5T (220,000 mi)
2014 Tesla Model S 85 (136,000 mi)
MBCA member

A little oil is normal, block the EGR and you won't get the tar. Remove the whole intake and dunk it in a kerosene bath, then it will be nice and clean.

A little wetness in the intake is pretty normal, the turbo seals probably are not perfect. As long as oil consumption stays low its not an issue.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

There will always be some oil in the crossover pipe, you will always get some blowby and it is routed to the intake side of the turbo.

Engines run on synthetic oil collect considerably less sludge in the crossover pipe UNLESS the head gasket is bad or the head is cracked -- those two situations result in excessive water in the oil, which boils out and makes mousse in the crossover. Hard sludge in there is a result of oil coking and will not happen if you use synthetic oil -- my brother's SDL has NO slop in the intake, just oil.

Plugging the EGR or disconnecting it will also prevent sludge to a large extent because you eliminate the soot, but won't help with water condensation sludge.

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!

It's nearly impossible for the 603 to have a perfectly dry intake tract for two reasons:

1) The engine always has a bit of blowby and some oil enters the tract from the valve cover via the breather hose.

2) The turbo seals are not perfect. Some oil bypasses the seals and enters the tract.

None of this oil is significant and the engine performs fine with it. The '86 uses more oil than most.............one quart every 2K miles.........and I'm quite sure that it's turbo seals.

There can be head gasket failure without coolant in the oil. The head gasket breaks in front of the number 1 cylinder into the chain case. Oil in the crossover could be a precursor to a full blow out. In which case, the engine can blow out about 1 gallon of oil per 30-60 miles. Do a compression check and a compression holding check on the #1 and #2 cylinders. That will tell the story.

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'95 S320 LWB
'87 300SDL
'04 E500 wagon 4matic

Not to highjack this thread, but found it while searching for a turbo/oil problem and some one might be able to help. I have a little oil leaking from the out side of the turbo some where. Where is the most common place it could be comming from?

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1987 300D Turbo

Spray it down with brake parts cleaner and watch over time.

Where it could be coming from includes:

- up top where the oil feed line attaches to the turbo (composite gasket)
- below where the oil return flange attaches to the turbo (composite gasket)
- oil return line union (o-ring)
- compressor inlet from severe blow-by or turbo shaft seal failure (piston ring type seal or graphite radial seal)

Sixto
87 300D