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?


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__________________
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?

.

instead capping I would recommend checking check valve

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__________________
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

If you attempted to check the oil without the engine running and oil came out the dipstick tube there had to be retained crankcase pressure present.

If you did so with the engine running then I would not really consider it particularily one way or another. Other than there was still a chance of too much base pressure. I would have to compare that effect with a simular model engine before I considered it signifigant.

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

I had no Idea they made an air cleaner like that. I'ts essentially exactly what i have. I wonder what the plumbing for the oil drain tube is like, because I absolutely hate the flimsyness of the non california models'. Is there any reason to change what I have now? Does anybody know if the Spectre air filters are as useless as the K&N ones?

Thanks everyone, your support is highly appreciated! You have all helped me so much through the years, ya'll are the best!