The engine sprung an oil leak somewhere and the engine died on the freeway. I popped the hood and found oil all over the injection pump and the driver's side of the engine. Oil cooler lines and oil cooler were fine. The hood mat right above the oil filter housing is soaked. I take care of this car meticulously and check for leaks all the time. The turbo drain tube and intake gasket were the only parts that had minor leaks. I changed that oil filter housing gasket a couple of years ago and it's always been clean. I can't believe this just happened. Does anyone in the Bay Area have a 617 engine that they need to sell?

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'81 300SD

Dang that bites! My condolences my friend.

Sorry to hear that. Pretty scary, frankly.

I feel your pain. The chain snapped on my first SD one day without warning as I went to pull away from the stop sign at the end of my street. The chain had been checked less than a year prior for stretch and pronounced good.

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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

Bummer. If the hood mat is soaked it had to be spraying, which likely means cooler lines or fittings or turbo line by the oil filter or maybe a cracked housing or the oil pressure gauge line. Let us know what you find so we can check ours.

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Current Stable

• 380SL (diesel)
• Corvette C5
• Manx
• Baja Bug
• F350 Powerstroke
• Auburn Boattail Speedster replica

That stinks! Yes please let us know what, so we can keep an eye out.....did your pressure gauge reading change at all before the full blow out?

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From your description, it sounds like the oil filter lid studs let go.
I think at this age, perhaps we all should replace our filter studs? new ones in there may prevent this type of failure.

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 560SL convertible
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
2005 Dodge Sprinter 2500 158"WB
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

That's scary.....how many miles on the car?

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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 159k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 179k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 145k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 77k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

All mechanical devices are subject to failure. If Nico Rosberg's F1 car can catch fire mid-race despite being looked after more carefully than most commercial aircraft, we who drive old cars can expect a bad result sooner or later. I've had that problem too, and it sucks. Best of luck with getting it fixed.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

I just went to turn the engine over by hand and it turns, but not as easily as before. Dropping 6 quarts of oil in the engine and trying to turn it over can't hurt, can it?

I turned the engine off before the oil gauge hit zero, but I did feel the car lose most of it's power as I swerved 3 lanes right to get off of the road.

The oil filter studs are fine. I'll dig around some more when the sun comes up.

The car has 214K on it and with the exception of a small, soft dent in the driver's door is in immaculate condition. The engine has performed wonderfully for the 45K that I've owned it. This is, or should I say was my daily driver.

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'81 300SD

Doesn't the SD have a low oil level warning? Did you get a warning?

How much oil was lost?

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 167,870 July 2025
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

Oh that is the worst feeling. I had a daily driver 115 that blew and oil cooler line so I can appreciate how much that can hurt.

Sorry to hear that. My guess is the turbo oil line feed. Isn't there a clamp holding it to the back of the engine? I'd say in that vicinity.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

The clamp is on the R/R corner of the head, hangs on a bracket that uses the 13mm bolt for the engine lift Bracket. I know it can wear through the oil line if the rubber insulator deteriorates. If the clamp is not there it can vibrate the pipe and crack where the 19mm banjo bolt is where it connects to the Oil Filter Housing.


Sorry to hear of your loss, that is a sick feeling when she is loosing her life blood before your eyes.

I have an engine out of a 300SD that was hit in the R/F, pealing the fender back and taking out the door. I pulled it at PNP only because it was a driver at the time of the accident. has 217K as I remember (Indicated) the guy had little pieces of masking Tape on various pieces on the engine as he was replacing things with the date/mileage. so figured it was probably a good one for a spare. I got cought one time w/o an engine when I broke a Timing Chain, and wanted a back up eng just incase. This is an option for you.


Charlie

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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

nope. no low oil level warning... only the 60x motors have that.

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 560SL convertible
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
2005 Dodge Sprinter 2500 158"WB
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

X2 on the Turbo Oil Line.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel