Hi folks, I unhooked the oil hose from the radiator so I could turn engine with a wrench and left it off and drove it till the motor stopped. About 5 minutes. I can't turn the engine now even with a breaker. I'm sad. Any thing I can do? Ideas? Mike

Where are you located? Ya need a replacement motor now... sorry.

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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 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Another engine is probably gone for all practical purposes. Just cheaper to replace with used than repair. You are a brand new member with a hard first post unfortunately. Still welcome aboard.

Yup, stick a fork in her, she's done

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2004 F150 4.6L -My Daily
2007 Volvo XC70 -Wife's Daily
1998 Ford F150 -Rear ended
1989 J-spec 420SEL -passed onto its new keeper
1982 BMW 733i -fixed and traded for the 420SEL
2003 Volvo V70 5 Speed -scrapped
1997 E290 Turbo Diesel Wagon -traded for above
1992 BMW 525i -traded in
1990 Silver 300TE -hated the M103
1985 Grey 380SE Diesel Conversion, 2.47 rear end, ABS -Sold, really should have kept this one
1979 Silver 300D "The Silver Slug" -Sold

I had this happen with a very high millage Accord (200k+ miles). The car was a beater. Oddly never leaked a spot on the ground but I was always putting oil in it.

Anyway, since I knew it was toast I had nothing to lose. I pulled the plugs, put some oil on top the piston heads. I also added way more oil than the engine called for. I think 5 more quarts over capacity. Then I turned it over by hand with a very, very long breaker. I managed to get movement. After a few turns I drained the excess oil, put plugs in and it fired up. I think it got another 20k miles out of it, I dont recall exact.

May not work in your case, but since its pretty much toast it may be worth the gamble. Not that I would trust the engine for anything long distance. In my case it was a beater for getting around when my daily drivers were being worked on.

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1991 560 SEL / 185k miles
1992 750il / 17k miles - project car

Sudden loss of oil ( and the resulting lock up ) is actually less of an issue than running low for hundreds of miles until it locks up. I've fixed a few motors where an oil drive snaps off or oil pan is broken. There is usually enough oil to keep the cam and rockers going so most damage will be crankshaft bearings. If this is a turbo car turbo damage is a possibility but since it is an easily changed external part, it is worth risking a bad turbo.

Pull the valve cover and have a look, if everything still looks sort of wet and there isn't any visible damage, proceed to the next step.

The motor will have to come out. Pull the oil pan then pull each rod bearing cap and look for the stuck bearing. If bearing looks good , put the cap back on so things won't get jammed up when you turn the motor, the cap can be loose as you will be taking it apart again, be sure to mark each cap.

When you find the stuck bearing, look to see if the insert spun in the rod bore, if not remove the insert from the crank ( it will be stuck to the crank as in bearing material melted to the crank like solder ) Try to flake some of the melted bearing material off the crank with a single edge razor blade , xacto knife. DO NOT gouge the steel as that will cause problems later on.

What you are looking for is signs of steel that looks blue or heavy scoring, if so the crank will need to be reground. Next do the same with the main bearings.

If the crank looks good and just has melted material on it, you can carefully flake the material off and polish the crank. Be sure not to let the material you are removing fall into oil passages. This takes a bit of work but can be done.

Another alternative being the engine is out is to remove the crank and clean the material off then send it to an automotive machine shop for a crack test , measure and polish.

If the crank is worn beyond specs, having it reground and installing new bearings is the next step.

Thanks 97. Sl. I have had this 80 300d for 30 days. Just set all the valves this morning and killed it. When I get over this disaster, I'll decide what to do with it. It ran great and it cost $750. Ahhhhhh. Sign. I'm near chattanooga tn. Mike

Well that is horrible!

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You're welcome. For some background, I've been in and around the auto business for 40 years. I know what it takes to make an absolutely perfect repair but also know what it takes to make something go again.

You will also need to disassemble the oil pump and check for any damage.

Some may say the repair is a hack. If you pull the crank, flake off the bearing material get it polished and it passes measurement, the crank is no different than one that came out of a used running engine. And, given the engine has to come out regardless of what path you take, you are at no loss.

If the crankshaft journals are heavily scored / blue , putting new bearings against that would be a hack and doomed to fail.

Atlanta craigslist has had a 617 for sale already pulled. Id check there.

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1985 300 TD 448K
1984 300 TD 278K

1983 240D euro 240k
1994 f-250 idi turbo 330K
1986 f-350 IDI
1987 F-350 IDI

1985 JD 1050 4wd
1965 IH 3660

Guys,
Newbie to this forum but have had my 300D for 8 years. But I'm confused. The only two oil lines going to an oil cooler that I recall are the transmission cooler which is a narrow vertical tower that sits to the side of the radiator, correct?

I'm away on vacation so I can't go look at my car. But what am I missing here? Engine oil lines that go to an oil cooler on the radiator deck? I guess I need a sanity check, I need to check this out when I get back home.

Btw I like this forum. Never knew it existed. Lot of threads to go thru.

You know, I was just thinking of this issue today. There was a guy on YouTube who intentionally runs an engine on a Dyno at high rpm without any oil until it dies. This motor ran for at least 15 minutes before it died. It was an amazing test that confirmed that a motor will sometimes run a lot longer than one would suspect even though it has no oil. Ny internet is limited here but you should see if you can find this video, if for no other reason than to watch a motor implode.

Easiest would be to apply oil thru the oil pressure gage fitting (bottom of oil filter housing). I use a small garden sprayer (but haven't on my M-B yet). That will force oil to all the bearings. If the engine turns then and runs w/ good oil pressure, I would just drive it.

On these engines, you must remove from the car to remove the upper oil pan, to inspect the crank & rod bearings. That is a major task.

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1984 & 1985 CA 300D's
1964 & 65 Mopar's - Valiant, Dart, Newport
1996 & 2002 Chrysler minivans

Wow, you guys are giving me hope. Bill, I will try forcing oil thru filter after church today. I like that idea.

Frank smith, the oil filter housing has a thermostat that opens and sends oil to a radiator on the side of the water radiator. I did not think it was working since the oil radiator never got hot. I was wrong. The top oil hose opposite the steering pump is what I unscrewed (and forgot to reattach) to fit my giant 1 inch ratchet . When I was driving, the car kept going slower and slower and then it died at 40 mph. I thru it in N and coasted to the side of a farm.

No cell phone. A guy in a tractor picked me up. Which was pretty nice of him. He had a big shot gun in the truck seat, the butt was on the floorboard and the barrel aimed at the roof.....which sort of worried me when we ran over bumps.

NNNnnnooooo. Reoiling the motor might get it turning again for a short time but it isn't going to last and the motor will need a total rebuild when it starts to hammer.

Bearing clearances are in the 0.001 to 0.003" range, once you get to 0.005" or so the hydrodynamic wedge is lost and the bearing will beat it's self apart.

Driven gently I've seen 2 engines run with 0.250" ( Yes 1/4" inch ) for a very long time. One was a Renault Alliance where the rod finally ate through the cylinder wall and another was a skid steer ( with a Ford Kent 1.6 ) that the rod finally nipped the cam so much it broke the cam.

I've built lots of engines to varying degrees of "how long does this need to last" , reoliing a stuck motor won't last in the long term. If you repair the slight damage now, the engine will continue on for many miles.