I don't mean to be redundant, I've read numerous post by searching under various topics, but, am confused by some of what I've read, so here goes... Thanks in advance, and I'll gladly return to any post anyone might suggest I read.

Have an 81 300D, 131k, recent rebuild on the engine, starts with no problem, runs like a bat out of hell (well, as much as one would expect), everything works (A/C, and so on). Seems at an idle, i get an (what i beleive to be) excessive amount of black smoke, which increases substainly on acceleration, then dissapates when riding at speed. When checking the air filter I observe quite a bit of oil in the air filter pan, and for at least the last 150 miles have used about 1/2 quart of oil. Acceleration is good, top speed is good. I've only had the car for about a week, maybe two, this is not my first diesel, but first Benz, I am aware of the smoke and such, it just seems excessive, as well, my other diesel burns little to no oil.

I've checked the under carrage for leaks and can only find a little sepage, which seems normal.

My oil pressure runs about what I would call 1.5 to 1.7 on idle, and goes up on acceleration.

Am I being paranoid, or should this be considered the norm? any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Bill,

I looked over the entire car, seems to be some seepage from around the oil pan. Looks like it has an excessive amount of sealant on the pan. I read in an earlier post that the spec does not call for sealant on this gasket, should I replace the gasket with NO sealant? I cleaned the whole area up very well, I will monitor it to see exactly where the seepage is coming from.

I called the original owner and inquired about the rebuild, he's a little hard to speak to one the phone, but from what I can surmise is, he was told by the MB mech that since he only drove the car 3 to 5 miles a day that then engine had to be "redone" because of carbon buildup.

Having seen the leak(s) I think this is where my oil is going, once I get this fixed I will take it to have the injection timing set or at least checked.

Good call on your behalf, thanks for the help.

jeric

Greetings Jeric,

Do a search on vacuum pumps and you'll read my story about a leaking diaphragm and how is causes excessive oil burning and consumption. If your vac line comes from your pump to the filter housing, this is a must read and a cheap fix if it's your problem as well.


Charles

Hi Yall;

Charles, I located your post as you suggested, very informative. A "must read" post for everyone. I'll order the parts from FastLane and do the fix upon receipt.

Bill, having read your post along with Charles' I gave this some thought. yesterday I was trying to fix an unrelated issue (my door locks only work for about 4 hours after I turn the car off), in the course of testing the vacuum lines I discovered some lines had oil in them, not clean oil, but oil that appears to have been run though a diesel engine. I've located (I love my MiteyVac) the door lock problem (dry vac fittings) and to be honest with you was not quite sure wot to make of the oil in the lines. Now knowing how to resolve this problem it will be next undertaking.

With regard to the oil in the Air Filter pan. It' was quite a bit, small puddles in the bottom of the pan, and residual on the filter itself and on the air filter cover, I replaced the filter. I too have a "breather hose" that travels from the valve cover to the "black deal" (oil recirculator?) also located in the air filter. Having damaged this hose I noticed when the engine is running a steady stream of oil infused air flows from that outlet on the valve cover. I can only surmise this is why the air filter pan has oil in it.

Cough, cough, ummm, clear the throat, how important is the, ahhh, e*r valve? I mean, would it be a problem if I found a "BB" in it's vacuum line?

Thanks for all the help.

jeric

Greetings Jeric,

Maybe this info will help you resolve a few of your oil and vac problems. Let's start with the vac problem. Seeing as you have a mighty vac you'll be able to isolate your problem quicker. Look for the obvious first seeing as you say there is oil in your vac lines. Test the following items first. Pull a vac on the shut-off valve located behind the IP, does it leak? This is one source of vac that is pulled that a leaking valve will draw oil into your system. Your actual vacuum pump if gone bad or a defective diaphragm will pull engine oil and distribute it throughout the vac system. This should be the most common two items drawing oil into the vac system. A leaking shut-off valve at the IP generally will pull oil to the ignition switch where it will drip down onto the kick panel after the engine has been shut off for a while. Loss of vacuum in your system could be almost anything but sometimes it's the simple things like a leaking 3way or 4way under the hood or in my case I found the ignition switch vacuum valve to be leaking which empties the vac reservor in a short period of time after shut down. Very simple part that is attached to the ignition switch with two vac lines going to it. Do a search on vacuum valve shut off and you'll read another success story on this fix I did.
On the dribbling breather hose you mentioned I think your is suppose to recirculate the oil back to the valve cover at the seperator. Check the line coming off the seperator to see if the oil is returning. I also read a post about a different style breather hose that actually adds baffles in the hose to reduce the oil that is sent to start with. You may have to do a search on that one as well, because they say it actually did help on oil flow to the air filter housing.

Hope this helps

Charles