Today on the way to work I experienced a very saddening thing… I would lose all power, and giant clouds of white smoke were pouring out the tailpipe. The first time this happened was before I had ever gone over 2500 rpms, so I don’t think I blew my engine from pushing it too hard. I assumed it was because I bypassed the oil separator and piped it straight to the turbo/air filter, and the line had a kink in it, so I undid the kink and continued driving, and I couldn’t see any more white smoke so I just kept on driving (it’s about 30minutes of highway driving) The next time this happened I was at a light right in front of my work, and I went to check the oil, and it shot oil out the dipstick tube and… all over me etc.
Yesterday I did an oil change on my car, using the correct oil (and amount) and filter etc. When the filter was out, I was inspecting the o-rings on the cover to the filter housing (the ones on the long rod) and they disintegrated, so I replaced them with two o-rings I had in a generic kit. They obviously weren’t a perfect fit, but I thought they’d be better than nothing, and I would just change them out with the right ones next oil change. I have a non-stock air filter setup, and my homemade blow-by separator/filter was removed for … servicing. What I did was I routed the line straight to the turbo (after the filter), thinking that it wouldn’t cause anything bad besides putting a little more oil into my intake. I have no idea what’s going on, or what I did to lead this to happen. Any ideas?

Mike, sounds like you have developed pressure in your engine some how with your home made set up. the blow by pressures in the engine have to be released through the vent hose in the top of the valve cover.

One indicator was the kinked hose you found and the oil shooting out the dip stick tube when you checked the oil. I suspect the large amounts of white smoke was engine oil being pushed out of a seal in a large amount and being burned. leave this long enough and you will have leaks in other seals and it can shut down the engine with the internal pressure pushing against the fuel shut off valve.

The way you have the blow by plumbed into the intake between the air filter and turbo is the same way the 78 & 79 300SD were plumbed. they have it going straight into the "U" Tube between the air filter and turbo.

So recheck you set up and look for the restriction.

The 2 "O" rings on the oil filter lid stalk is not the problem. they keep the oil from draining from the filter when the engine is shut off.

Also put in your signature the type of car/model etc,,, you are talking about. I looked in your sig and noted you have a 84 300D.

Charlie

__________________
there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

Blown head, sounds like. How is coolant level & appearance?

__________________
CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

I thought it sounded like a blown head too, but why would this happen within 2 minutes of driving at less than 30mph?
I just checked the coolant and it looks fine, normal level and doesn't seem to have any oil in it. I just checked the oil level and it seems high??/ Could this have been caused by too much oil (in conjunction with impeded valve gas flow)? Is the damage permanent? I piped it straight to the turbo after the first couple minutes but it was still smoking like crazy 30 minutes later, and throwing oil like it was all sorts of angy. The oil pressure gage shows "normal" amounts of pressure, but then again it pegs whenever I push the on the throttle, so it could have excessive amounts of pressure, just not at idle.

Your oil pressure should peg anytime you press on the throttle. If it doesn't, that is abnormal.

I am x2 what Charmalu said.

Are you sure this is white smoke or light blue smoke? It can be hard to tell if you are looking at it through the rear window or in the mirror.

__________________


Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Return the system to stock, and see if the issue goes away.

.

__________________
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https://whunter.carrd.co/

Prototype R&D/testing:
Thermal & Aerodynamic System Engineering (TASE) Senior vehicle instrumentation technician.
Noise Vibration and Harshness (NVH).
Dynamometer.
Heat exchanger durability.
HV-A/C Climate Control.
Vehicle build.
Fleet Durability
Technical Quality Auditor.
Automotive Technical Writer

1985 300SD
1983 300D
2003 Volvo V70

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For me to "return system to stock" I would have to pour in all the old oil and replace with new oil filter with the old one. I completely fail to see how putting the original air cleaner back on would make any of this better, but I'm here to learn.

I changed out the stock air cleaner assembly over a year ago, with no issues. The changes I did yesterday were an oil change, and disconnecting the valve cover oil seperator. I have run without an oil seperator (either venting to atm, or straight to turbo) for months without problem. I can see how a blocked oil seperator could have started engine issues, what I'm trying to figure out is why it is still doing that now that I have removed any blockage from the system. Thanks everyone!

If you can, post pictures of the way you have it set up.

Charlie

__________________
there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

Vent the breather to the atmosphere, see if that fixes it. Cap any other open lines.

__________________
CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

Depending on what your "non-stock" air cleaner is, (K&N perhaps?), you could have dusted and worn out your engine. The result is an amount of blowby that does not allow the separation of lube oil from the breather system.

possible, but not likely,
it would not come so suddenly,I know a guy 4 yrs city drivin' without any
air filter and car has big mileage...these engines can swallow a lot

he did something wrong during the process,he has to rewind step by step
in a mind at least to examine where did he go wrong.

cheers,

.

__________________
w126 500SEC gen II euro, powered by OM617 turbo stolen from 84 300SD 2.88 diff,EGR blinded
next wish/project: w114 coupe OM603 powered

.

btw Mike

I'm curious,...what did you do with oil drain tube in
your setup, with or without separator?


.

__________________
w126 500SEC gen II euro, powered by OM617 turbo stolen from 84 300SD 2.88 diff,EGR blinded
next wish/project: w114 coupe OM603 powered

I'm guessing charmalu was dead on as to what had happened.
I have it vented to atmosphere right now, I plugged up the line to the turbo, and... no more smoke? I'm guessing what what happening was that all the smoke I was seeing is what was left over after the initial "plugging" of the vcv, where there was still oil left over in the wrong places and it was burning off. So.. how bad was that for the engine?
I'm going to try when I get off work to send it straight to the turbo and see if I still get all that white smoke. I guess if I do that means I'm getting an amazing amount of blowby?

The air filter that I've got on there is the Spectre cone air filter available from autozone, its about a foot long. I don't think it's a good filter, but I thought it would be comparable, and wouldn't let in as much crap as the K&N Filter. If this isn't true, then I could easily change it to the paper FRAM ones I've seen on here. I don't want to go back to stock because I like to see my engine and because I am absoluetly tired of replacing the stupid brackets and their rubber mounts. I was never under the illusion that it would give me "performance" gains I just wanted it to clear up the engine bay. BTW, I am very proud of my oil seperator, mostly because I'm trying to convince myself it was worth the time I spent on it. I got an aluminum water bottle from the Dollar Tree, filled the bottom half with stainless wool, and at the top I have a cotton air filter. I have the input at the bottom under the thought that as the gasses rose up they would cool down and precipitate oil. I don't know if that's how it really works though.
Sorry, no pics for now because I don't have a camera at work.

The oil drain tube has been connected to the oil seperator, and I was more or less using it as intended. I just capped it off yesterday and ran a line straight from the VCV to the turbo, but the cap disappeared when the pressure went nuts and spewed oil eveywhere (everywhere all over the brand new hood pad I installed yesterday ).
I have been thinking about plugging up the oil drain tube entireley, as it seems like a weak part of the system, and T-ing into the turbo drain and moving the oil seperator up to the front of the car so I have less tubing running around everywhere (and it'll keep it cooler =longer life and more oil sepation). Does that sound feasable?

If you want to eliminate the stock air cleaner setup, an alternative way is to look for the stock setup used on '85 300d and 300sd delivered to the California market with a trap oxidizer. These used a smaller air filter housing mounted behind the right headlight.

See post #14 here:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/214330-1984-1985-different-air-cleaners-300sd.html

Admittedly no points for elegance.

__________________


Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22