What are you using to clean the carpet? Looks really good, great job.

Thanks to both, just feeling a bit frustrated was hoping to have a stretch with no repairs at this stage and the oil leak was not pleasant to find.

Rather anxious now to inspect. Fearing what I may find.

Carpets
TLDR: Purple Power.

Since the carpets were so heavily stained (primarily with oil) and their overall poor condition after a quick vacuum I went straight to soaking them for twenty minutes in a solution of Purple Power.

Using a fingernail style brush I gave them a good scrubbing. Rinsed and repeated. That alone made them 80% to where they are now. But the chemicals + soot wear + and father time left an end result that was somewhat blotchy and uneven in color.

I then gave them both a light coat with vinyl/fabric paint- brushing again in between each coat. While the color is not exactly correct the overall uniformity is much improved. And cost next to nothing and let me keep some original parts a bit longer.

Went hunting for oil and I found some.

Little background:

Previously, no drips that I'm aware of. I never saw any on the driveway and when I was working on the car, sure, there was some caked oil here and there but nothing crazy. I recall thinking to myself how dry it was for a 30 year old vehicle. Not anymore!

Also, previous owner had the car in a garage and I believe he stated no drips in there either.

Car has essentially zero blow-by warm or cold. (Though I'm going to check that again now.)

What I found:

- A little oil on the cold side of the turbo entering the intake manifold
- A tiny bit of oil in the bottom of the air filter canister
- A covering of oil on the front passenger side above and around the oil pan gasket and also on the engine. Left side of engine only.
- Tiny bit of oil on the crank case vent tube by the oil cap, but that tube in general seemed oily.
- No real oil on the turbo inlet after taking off intake tubing, maybe a drops worth smeared around. Turbo has zero noticeable shaft play and spun freely.
- No oil in the coolant

I was unable to determine the origin of this mess, everything is pretty filthy now and there wasn't a clear area of "oh yeah- that seal failed" or anything like that. So I've cleaned up various areas as best I coild and added some more oil and checked the oil level.

Plan is to run a quick errand tomorrow (about 25 miles round trip) and then inspect it immediately upon return. Hopefully there will be clear evidence of where it's coming from.

Based on some quick research, it might be the oil return drain tube. Will require more inspection.

Oil Leak

Haven't found anything super conclusive. After cleaning the oil off as much as I could, I'm seeing it drip now from hose on top of the valve cover gasket. There is a clear stream of oil leaking out of that hose. (Zero blow by pressure though? So why is oil going UP?)

I'm also seeing oil on the connection between the turbo and the air intake manifold. My turbo looks like it barely is fitting into the intake manifold. I'm not familiar with this setup at all, but it looks wrong to me. Like there is a huge gap and it's not sealing well. Why is there a metal to metal connection anyway? Can that gap be adjusted because it looks like an air leak? Also, yet more question... why would there be oil near the cold side of the turbo and the intake manifold?

Water Leak

Well, just spent some pretty coin for a windshield gasket to be installed. Was fairly sure based on water tests that was the route of the issue. However, that's not in question. Either the new gasket is not working or there is a leak elsewhere. A single water test revealed water still entering in the cabin on the passenger side. Didn't bother testing drive side yet since passenger side is still leaking.

Oil Leak:

Well haven't lost any more oil from what I can tell over a few drives. But oil is leaking out of the crankcase vent tube. And I am seeing some oil around the turbo to intake manifold. Which again, seems like it has a large weird gap to it.

Water Leak:

Found a rather hidden HOLE in the car, by the battery tray again. After I cleaned it up, it's bit bigger than a quarter and a little taller. I had fixed a small issue nearby already, but this one was hidden to me upon first inspection.

I actually found it by working my way from the inside of the car out. I ripped out more sound deadening/firewall plastic and found the culprit for the passenger side leak. Once again fairly confident this is the main culprit.

I'm going to take the por-15 + fiberglass cloth route to repair it. I've already cleaned it up all the large rusty pieces and stripped away as much nearby paint as possible. Might take a rotary tool to it to clean it up a bit more. I'll start with patching it from the engine bay side first, applying a single layer of por-15 soaked glass and letting that cure. Then a second layer of the same. Then I will cover the entire area with 3M seam sealer. I'll be doing this outside so I'll fab up a little box and use a heatgun to get it up to temp.

Then from the inside of the car, I will fill the 'void' with glass mat soaked in por-15 and let that cure. Then I'll switch back to glass cloth again and get a nice smooth seal. Then that will get covered with 3M seam sealer.

Hopefully that will solve this issue for a good long time!

1. Receiver Dryer for A/C
2. EGR tube. See if you can find a EGR delete kit.
3. Looks like a PCV input. Either fix it or plug it for now. It is letting unfiltered air into the turbo.
4. Temp sensor wire for ACC and possibly Aux fan override.
5. Return the fuel system to stock. You may need to source OE used parts.
6. Yes, that is the washer pump. It is not broken but may not work, either. It fits on the side of the washer tank and pokes in to the bottom with a grommet.
7. The overboost protection sensor has been bypassed. It is the part with the cut tube in it. You can T your boost gauge in to the white line.
8. Engine vibration dampers are not needed. They are deleted on my cars because I don't see the point in spending a few hundred $ for something that does not make much difference.

Awesome, thanks for the info!

On the list the biggest thing I want to fix is that biofuel filter. I've tried to look up info about it but haven't found anything. So many hoses! It seems like if I could figure out which is which... they could just be reconnected with some properly rated barbs?

I will comment on 2,3, and 5.
2. I suggest you purchase a "Test Pipe" and use it to replace the trap-ox. It comes with an EGR block off plate.
3. the rubber tube that you touched is actually a "T" that the plastic tube fits into (look underneath).
5. agreed, remove all of the equipment for the WVO system. It is a lot of plumbing that is not needed, and that system is not the best anyway (I ran the Lovecraft system for years, and decided it is not worth the hassle). I am blending when running WVO, so no equipment is needed. You are running pump Diesel, so all the equipment is just taking up space in your engine bay. To remove, connect a fuel line from the supply and return tubes to the lift pump and return nipple on the fuel filter housing. All other fuel lines and equipment can be removed. The heater hoses have "T"s in the lines, so you will either need new hoses, or use 1/2" copper tubing (5/8 OD) and hose clamps to splice where the "T"s were removed.
Everything else stated above is good info.....Rich

This should help explain the stock fuel system.

Agreed on your comments. A "test pipe" will address the long-term issue with the trap ox. WarTowels will need to consult his state laws before making that decision. Some states hold even older Diesels to high emissions equipment standards.

Those heater lines are a disaster. If it were me, I would order all new heater lines and replace the whole setup. It looks like someone got awfully creative in that engine bay.

Yes, and the space for the washer bottle will be freed up again. There is actually only two hoses that are affected by the heated filter= The one by the oil filter stand, and the other connected between the coolant pump and the water pump housing. If you wanted to just remove the equipment and free up the space until the replacement heater hoses arrive, you could just run the longest hose from "T" to "T".

Well, fairly certain I'm missing the entire stock fuel filter assembly. Now that I've seen it I am sure I don't have that.

Interesting choices, previous owner. Interesting choices.

It looks like you have most of the stock fuel filter head intact. It also looks like the PO chopped up the hard plastic lines, so those will need to be replaced. We need more detailed pictures to tell which ones, though.

You are correct ^ the stock system does seem to be mostly there.

Got terrribly sick for a week so today is the first day I touched the car in a while. I'll need to take a closer look to make sense of the whole mess.

I pulled VIN into the garage for a bit, going to fix the hole in the firewall (one of the leaks), fix the hood ornament, attach the stock TURBODIESEL badge and maybe inspect that biofilter nonsense some more.

Had a miserable time trying to start the car today, the battery seemed down on power from sitting for a week and its about nine degrees out. Even with the help of buddy battery it took three attempts and lots of cranking. When I finally did get it started I put it in the garage and went to shut it off and it did the thing I've heard about where it doesn't shut off with the key and you have to go stop it via the engine lever.

Now... I've never tried to start the car and shut it off in such a short period of time (5 min) and it is very cold out. So... hopefully that won't happen again through regular use. Battery is on the trickle charger to get it back up to top.

Cheers

Bunch of updates coming.

Something funny for my vanity plates:
http://i.imgur.com/Fc0ZnL6.png

https://i.imgur.com/fYXey4n.jpg
To date all of the wiring I've removed from 'Vin'. All non oem except the alternator wire which I replaced.

https://i.imgur.com/cRlkhwv.jpg
Here's the Lovecraft biodiesel parts I pulled. This simplified the plumbing quite a bit. I replaced two hoses and reused some of the others after cutting back to size. Put on two new fuel filters as well.
Thanks for the info on the lovecraft system and also the stock system.

With the bio system removed I now have the room for the stock washer reservoir. Luckily for me whoever decided it was a good idea to take out reservoir was kind enough to leave the bracket. Installed the one I bought and replaced all of the tubing as well. The old motor worked, but since I was replacing everything else I decided to splurge the $12 for a new motor too. The pressure is excellent. Works wonderfully!

As for the hole in the firewall I found below the battery box by the drain- I sanded it out, cleaned it up covered the affected area in Rust Bullet (two coats) and then fiberglassed with both mat and sheets. Three layers to build the hole back up and then I used 3M seam sealer over the entire area. I'll water test again sometime next week. Quite confident in my repair, but the question is if there is another leak somewhere else... possibly driver side.

The pcv tubing that exists the valve cover is showing signs of wear. Cracks and such. This is likely the reason it's spitting oil. As a bit of a test, I changed out the clamp on it for a tighter one that is giving a much better seal. In addition I diverted the tubing to a clear plastic bottle I placed in the engine bay. I plugged the other ports so there are no air leaks. I want to monitor two things, first to see if oil is coming out at the valve cover to pvc seal and also how much oil over a period of miles ends up in the bottle that otherwise would have gone to my air filter or turbo.

Car has been sitting in the garage for several days now and only a few drops of oil have hit the floor. I'll continue to investigate and monitor the situation.

http://i.imgur.com/kxrHzbH.png
Properly badged now.

Also replaced the front hood emblem that had broken with a nicer shinier one.

I didn't realize upon naming this thread I wouldn't have the ability to rename my thread as I went. I wouldn't have named it as such, oh well.

Interior leak:
Anyway, I leak tested the car this weekend on the passenger side where I made the repair. Happy to report it was 100% dry after independently testing each part- windshield, intake vents on hood, gap between the hood and body and gap between the door and fender. All checked out good, no interior leaks. Excellent.

Repeated the above on the driver side, failed when I pour several gallons between the hood and the body (the same place the passenger side leaked from) I found water coming into the driver side. Bummer.

Likely it's the same basic rust issue that I fixed on the passenger side, I'll have to investigate more. If true, this one should be a bit more difficult as there's far more gizmos in the way.

Rear washer system
Spent a bit working on the rear washer system, actually proving to be quite a bit more difficult to get working than the front, naturally. I've replaced much of the washer lines with new, but there were a few areas I gave up such as behind the headliner. I tested to make sure they were clear, so no big deal.

After reconnecting everything up after various tests it seems the last bit of line that runs inside of the hatch may be clogged reducing almost all of the flow. I just found out how to remove the nozzle so I'll see how that goes tomorrow.

Removing Lovecraft Bio Diesel

Happy to report no leaks still. I can't tell if it's the general maintenance I've been doing over time or just getting the car out on the road more but it feels more responsive now and dare I say even a bit more powerful. I'm guessing the Lovecraft system was creating a loss of pressure along with the regular fuel filters which needed changing.

Interior leak:

Sadness. I did another rust repair on the drivers side under the hood hinge. It was a little crusty but no holes. Yet the car still had a trickle of water getting in when I dump water on that side of the car.

After more searching, I found that the windshield gasket that I had installed has not sealed properly at the bottom corner on the drivers side. I found water leaking in there and then running down behind the dash.

I'll be calling the glass company tomorrow who installed it to see what they say...



Been cleaning more carpets, the rust repair and picked up a boost gauge installation kit for a spare VDO gauge I had. Curious to see what the turbo is doing.

VIN Should be leak free now! Woot.

Continuing my work cleaning the interior. Passenger front is done. Every panel/carpet has been removed and freshened up.

Did a little rust slowing down/clean up on the drivers side as well and have one more carpet to clean and then everything can go back on that side too. I also fixed several loose grommets on the firewall that were letting in cold air. Now that those are fixed and I opened the vent actuators I now have nice toasty floor heat.

https://i.imgur.com/ktmB1qQ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/UNNGoJe.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/zPrlA7D.jpg

Good job.

Check below the hood hinges (pockets near firewall, both sides) for leaves and debris this will collect crud and eventually rust and cause interior leaks, also there is a cavity underneath the drivers wiper under the cowl vents that is supposed to be sealed where the metal seams meet, can be a source of leaks as well. Sunroof has drains, front and rear, they clog also
Good thread thanks!!
More Picts!!!!

^Thanks! I believe I have solved all the leaks now!

Haven't done much to the car recently, trying to wait for spring to break through winter so I can work outside comfortably again.

Car's running great though and it's lovely to have the all the front interior back in the car.

Only thing I've done this week is I purchased a door lock knob that was missing from the passenger front.

Anyone replace the rear carpets in the back of the TD? Mine is rather disgusting... it's going to need probably 3-5 hours of cleaning... not sure it's worth it.

Went to some auto parts store, carpet stores, jo ann fabrics but haven't found anything even remotely close to replace it with.

Overall you're doing very well there ~ your car looks great and you're addressing all those niggly little things no one else bothered to do for decades...

I too have an old Beige TD , I love it .

Nice work on this previously iffy maintained TD!

I just have to know, how did you get the rear wiper and hoses out? i Have a leak under the headliner and a clogged nozzle to boot....

The rear washer area is a real pain, surprisingly so!

Lots of time and fiddling and I was able to get MOST of the hoses out for replacement. I ordered a new rear nozzle from Mercedes as well as a new 2-way valve for the rear washer system (I'm on week two of waiting).

Once that comes in I'm hoping it'll illuminate more clearly how to remove the rear nozzle as honestly it's not very apparent. If I can get that out, I'll be able to replace 100% of the hoses.

I just removed all the panels, used a heat gun and took my time. It turned into a couple hours over the course of two days.

I removed the side kick door panel, the pillar panel and the plastic panel holding the rear light and speakers all came out and that was enough for me to push and pull the tubing out.

As for the rear wiper, I haven't had to remove that. I just replaced with a new one.

My replacement rear nozzle (DOPPELDOUCE!) finally came in from Germany and I got to installing it. What - a - pain. It took forever to get things lined up and tightened down. With the hatch still on the vehicle is there only about 3" of space to work through a tiny access hole.

Took me over an hour and two people to screw in a single screw! I used a Philips head bit and a mini ratchet. Got the job done eventually and now I have working rear washer fluid! Woo.

I like restoring back the functionality it once had.

Couple random questions:

1. I'm convinced I have an oil leak/weep. And it's been difficult tracking it down, but I think it's coming from where the turbo meets the manifold. But I have no idea why there would be oil there. When I ran a makeshift catch can and drove the car around it had absolutely no oil in it. So I don't think it's getting into the intake and then being sucked into the turbo.

2. So my rear SLS is not working and the weather is getting nicer so I may start to think about tackling that when I free my other car from it's winter slumber. I've noticed that going over nasty bumps in the car the front handles it quite well and the back gives a little *thump* as it hits.

So it seems like I may need accumulators to get the leveling part working again, would that help the *thud* going over bumps in the rear, too?

PM me your email address, I think I can help you with diagnosis and repair of your SLS.

Wow I can't believe how long it's been... I had a really good run with 'VIN' in terms of everything workings quite well in general.

I'm still having leak issues that I can't figure out the source of. One is still up front on the drivers side and the other is diagonally opposite on the rear most passenger window- the washer fluid in the back area is collecting water. I garage the car though, so this is rarely an issue for me.

OIL Leaks =(

Recently, my fairly clean underbody and dry engine has become the more standard W123 covered in oil engine. I think I have multiple leaks...

I have confirmed a leak from the Turbo Drain Pipe lower grommet/seal. I'm trying to find part numbers for this as I think the CA model may have a different seal... Any help here would be great.

Advice? I was thinking about dropping the oil pan for this repair because of the pain I've heard about doing it. I was wondering if it was possible to leave the top of the drain tube attached to the turbo, if the pan is dropped.

A new oil pan gasket and a cleaning I'm sure are in order.


I think I have a second or third leak, too though. The underside of the cold side of the turbo looks oily. *Not* the top of the return pipe though. Also the top of the tranny is oily as well, but I have no VC leaks.

Valve Adjustment-

So I wanted to preform a valve adjustment as I haven't done one before and this is a great car to practice on all considering.

So I followed the guides to a T and adjusted 8 of my 10 valves. 2 were found to be in spec (both exhaust). I had several valves that were much too loose and several valves too tight as well. I adjusted the valves back to Turbo spec. Rotated the engine many times and triple checked the clearances. I wanted to be sure I had absolutely done it right.

Well everything is buttoned back up and when I fire up the car, the first second or two had a new hesitation to it. After that, it appeared to run identically to before the adjustment. I have no driven the car because of the aforementioned oil leaks. But sitting and revving the engine, everything sounds as normal. Shut the car off and let it sit for the day. Yesterday I fired her up again to see if that hesitation was gone and it still presented itself. It was just like a tiny hiccup and then the car ran seemingly normal.

Anyone have any idea what that might be? Should I have noticed a difference in the engine? (Some valves that should have been .1mm were .4,mm and .35mm etc) Should I just open it up again and recheck everything?

Thanks for the advice!

On my leaky 83 turbo drain grommet, I cleaned and de-greased the area and gobbed it up with RTV= no more leaks. With your other leaks, work from top down. Clean, find the topmost leak first then fix. Go to the next lower leak.

My 85 was drenched in oil when bought. I used procedure above and it is now totally dry. Biggest leak was the valve cover gasket, minor leaks from vac pump gasket/bolts, power steering hose clamps, oil filter housing gasket.

The turbo oil drain tube grommet is not so hard once you drop the oil pan .

I managed to damage one tube pretty badly by going at it only from above ~ I chipped and picked away at the old rock hard and degraded grommet then had the devil of a time getting the tube out .

The next one I dropped the lower sump and easily pushed the tube up out of the grommet using a bit of wooden dowel .

I'm currently doing brakes (over a MONTH wait for a L/F ATE caliper ! :mad:) and the door checks ~ it turns out the DPM took one ball bearing out of each door check.....

There's more but that's the main things .

Ordered all the parts in order to replace the grommet. Also ordered a new OE oil pan. I found that my current pan, the P/O must have hit something and had the pan repaired. Looks like there was some braising or something done to it, but it's seeping oil.

Going top to bottom and cleaning up all the oil I can find... should take many days to achieve.

I have some questions for you kind folks:

http://i.imgur.com/G3JDx1X.png

What is the seal around the blue thing? Seems pretty oily, I imagine it's failing?

What is the sensor with the nipple on it?

Any thoughts on where my oil might be coming from? It seems like around the very plugged up EGR there was lots of oil. Also, oil on the bottom side of the cold side of the turbo.

I purchased an EGR block off kit, based on the findings I think I won't be losing much by installing it.

The seal is part of the ARV (air relief valve). It does a similar job as the waste gate, as it dumps boost from the cold side, the waste gate dumps it from the hot. It is not needed in my opinion, and I usually disconnect all vacuum to them (YMMV). The sensor is a temp sensor for what I don't know (EGR control?), but the wire comes from around the coolant pump area, and may be hidden from view because of the air cleaner. As far as the carbon and oil buildup, the crankcase ventilation goes into the turbo intake air stream, and not through an oil separator on an '85. The turbo ingests all of the oil/gasses that come from the crankcase. Earlier models wit an oil separator do not get as badly gunked up.

You are a brave man, these engines are grime magnets.

Also, I think yours is my favorite username on PP.

Haha! Thanks =)

I won't get it 100%, but I need to get it clean enough that I can spot where any potential oil leaks are. I want to fix the easy ones at least...

I installed the EGR delete last night after cleaning and I'm really happy with the extra room it's created. I'm tempted to pull out my non-functional A/C and Cruise control and maybe switch to a cone filter to really open up the cluttered engine bay. That would let me reduce the clutter quite a bit with no functionality loss. Toss everything in a box incase the desire to fix those bits arises.

In progress:

http://i.imgur.com/WL1TKqW.jpg

SLS Basics
 

FWIW ;

Before you go tearing the SLS apart , take the time to clean out the oil reservoir .

I discovered some boob had filled mine with ATF at one point and the bottom was still 1/4" thick with nasty looking slimy dirty grimy crud :eek: .

It was a seriously fiddly job to clean it all out , then I replaced the filter and replenished it with the correct oil and it works fine .

As soon as the oil turns dark again (it uses a clear Mineral based oil) I'll go back in and clean it out again .

Oil and sweat are *MUCH* cheaper and easier than rebuilding the leveling valve , replacing the spheres and so on .

Interesting. To be honest, this has been pushed way way back on the list of priorities. The car still rides quite well without the SLS system, no real complaints there. I have oil leaking out and some water leaking in- my two issues that are taking precedence. =)

Well and good but always be proactive .

FWIW , you can take German vehicles farther apart than you can get parts , this means often you can actually FIX a thing instead of replacing it with some poorly made new part .

Proactive on a 30+ year old vehicle with a laundry list of issues? I have a life =)

Couple questions coming soon...

My replacement oil pan and gasket arrived Friday, hooray! The OEM is seeping oil and it would be nice to put on a nice and clean new one. I placed the pan down on the gasket and found they are not a match. Both parts are listed as compatible with a 1985 300TD. So at least one of them is wrong... I'm betting the pan.

After cleaning up the top area of the turbo and manifold, I started up VIN to see how it was running after replacing all of the fuel return lines with new Mercedes hose (who knew they were tan to start?) as well as the EGR delete and Trap block off. The car seemed to run really nicely! Maybe the best yet. Could be in my head, but I feel like the car revs and feels smoother even in idle. Also, for more work room I had the intake hose off so the turbo was sucking air freely (garaged). Sounded pretty good! I have a spare K&N cone filter and am tempted o build a short ram intake to test out the noise as well as create more room in the engine bay. Behind the passenger headlight seems like a suitably dry location?

Anyway, after running the engine for a bit I gave it some revs a few times to get the turbo sucking air more.

This was the immediate result and I'd like all of your input:

https://i.imgur.com/OzraukF.jpg
This gap has always seemed large to me, but I'm not sure. I noticed for the first time it actually moves then you increase revs. At anyrate, it's spitting out oil like crazy and seems to be the source of my upper oil leak as well as the culprit for gunking up the EGR.

https://i.imgur.com/slgWEKQ.jpg
There seems to be a port before the turbine (is that connected to that aforementioned ARV?) that appears to be leaking oil. I suspect that is then sucked into the turbo and ejected out of the first image. This would explain the leak above, the gunked up EGR and smoke when boosting on the highway - sucking in oil.

If the above is correct, does anyone know what the source of that leak is? Is this a gasket swap or more of a turbo rebuild situation, I'm not too familiar here...

FWIW ;

I have a life albeit a very busy one :rolleyes: .

I'm a Journeyman Mechanic so I like to keep things in good order , this $ave$ lots of $ in the long run , makes working on your old vehicles nicer and easier too .

I tried my hand at rebuilding my own turbo charger and it worked out fine and works *much* better now .

I am not sure about your other questions other than to say that piece shouldn't move , ever .

it's nice to know you have a life, I wasn't implying you didn't though. 😀👍

Everything in life has a time value. Only so much time can be reasonably spent on what for me is a side car I own for fun and to learn more about diesels on. It's old and you could look anywhere at it and find a project, that's much of the appeal. If I intended to fix everything on it, I'd have never bought it though. It would be so much easier and cheaper to just buy a nicer one! I fix what I can as I go, which so far has been quite a bit.

Anyway, My turbo definitely moves that piece. It seemed to go in and out during revs... Maybe I'll snap a quick video.

If you can find a Federal turbo, and replace the entire cold side, that would get rid of the ARV completely. A rebuild would be a good thing as well. A kit is around $50 and it is not a hard job. The oil is probably going past the bearing into the cold side intake stream at idle. At idle, the oil pressure is greater than the boost pressure in the cold side, so oil gets past the worn out bearing and seal. At higher boost, the oil is kept out of the cold side by that pressure. I had a bad turbo in my Mitsubishi that would make a smoke cloud so big at idle (I had to turn off the engine at a stoplight to prevent said cloud), Batman would love to have it as an option on the Batmobile. At speed (boost), there was no more smoke than normal.
After you rebuild the turbo, your oil consumption and smoking will be gone. Your intake tract will be cleaner as well........Rich

Good Explanation
 

Thanx for that explanation Rich ! .

I have always wondered how well the turbo's shaft seals work , they don't look impressive .

I used the turbo rebuild kit with the 360° thrust support , as you said over hauling the turbo isn't difficult , just a bit time consuming if you do it right .

BTW WarTowels : I took no offense :P .

Gear Heads like to work on cars when others are playing the ponies or chasing skirts etc..... :D

That's an interesting idea about trying to find the cold side of a Federal T3 turbo! That would be a clever way to do away with the AVR.

If I did that, the turbo would still need a rebuild though if I understand correctly. Also, my car doesn't really smoke at idle, but it does smoke under full boost.

Will any old Garrett T3 rebuild kit work or does it need to be specific to a .45 trim or even specific to a Mercedes?


Other thought I had while talking to a friend, if oil is getting out between the turbo and the intake manifold, aren't I losing air and pressure there as well?

Yes you would be loosing a little pressure, but not enough to notice any lack of power. Replace the sleeve Orings when you have the turbo out. Yes you should rebuild the turbo, even if you keep the ARV cold side. The Mitsubishi turbo I had, I am sure was very worn out, and much worse than yours. I imagine the oil in the air stream does not mix with the air at idle in yours (stays in the turbo and manifold), but may be forced into the intake during a boost situation (reason for smoke at boost, not at idle). That may be why you have the opposite situation as my Mits. Also, on the Mits, the outlet from the turbo faces down, and the intake manifold is lower than the turbo. That is probably why all the oil getting past the seals goes directly into the intake on the Mits. The 'Benz is not quite that way.