Last night checked the dip stick and noticed oil level was at the bottom mark. I filled the engine with oil so it now dip stick shows oil at the top mark. I won't make that mistake again and will begin checking oil levels every Saturday.

That said, I had to pass someone this morning. when I stepped on the loud pedal I noticed quite a bit of black smoke coming from the car's exhaust. This weekend I am planning to change out the injectors to newish Monark injectors, check the ALDA and make an attempt at setting the IP timing using the drip method.

The car has around 260,000 miles on it; I am wondering if perhaps the cylinder rings are worn? Would a compression check show cylinder ring wear?

Check your boost level. Black smoke usually indicates inadequate air. A lazy turbo or stuck EGR can contribute to smoke/soot. Your worn out injector nozzles can certainly cause it too.

How long has it been since the oil was changed? Miles, not time. Rings are easy enough to test. Get the engine up to operating temperature, go drive the snot out of it, then pull the oil filler cap with the engine idling. If you're getting puffing, the rings are worn. The more puffing, the more worn they are.

Valve stem seals and turbo are another source of oil consumption. I'm dealing with the latter on my SDL presently, soon to be eliminated with a rebuilt turbo.

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Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

Oil change was done about 2000 miles ago. There are oil leaks on the garage floor from the engine. As a result I switched from the more expensive synthetic to Valvoline Premium Blue Heavy Duty Diesel 15W 40 oil until I get the oil leaks repaired. Thank you for the advice; I'll check out the items you mentioned and post updates here.

Italian tune up is needed!

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92 e300d2.5t
01 e320
05 cdi
85 chev c10

its a diesel and the smoke is under hard acceleration... sounds fine to me.


check your breather tubing and the stock separator deal in your air filter. my guess is that is where your oil is going. if it were a real mechanical problem you would have a noticeable smell, and haze coming from the tail pipe at all times. (not late injection haze either)

and yes to the Italian tune up.

it blows me away how you guys throw parts at something over black smoke yet the part never seems to be a larger turbo.

you want to get rid of your black smoke? take vice grips and clamp the signal to your wastegate shut lol.

if you dont care about black smoke remove the alda, its only there to reduce fueling till you get boost.

I read that as bass ackwards for a minute. Like you were like, 'oil leaks? I know, I'll switch to synthetic!'

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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?

Oil on the garage floor? Leak may be heavier when driving.

I need to rebuild my turbo as well. If anyone on the forum offers this as a service, I'd be interested.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

It's not very difficult and requires no special tools .

You know who in Wa. state sells the kits with good printed instructions and some home made wrenches to ease the job .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

With purely the information given in your original post, there's no cause for concern. From your wording it seems that it had been quite a while since you checked it, so it could be sipping a little bit through the turbo, leaking an amount that doesn't show up often underneath the car, or yes, burning some in the cylinders. You did not approach hurting the engine by running it at the add mark - there's still over 6 qts. of oil in it at that point. The black smoke is normal in that circumstance, and you did the engine a service by blowing that gook out of there. You should do it several more times!

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'82 300CD
"Pearl", the very first turbo diesel 123 coupe
Totaled 11/23/18, rebuild in progress.
'85 300TD, "Artemis".
'78 300D euro, "Ol' Red", mostly retired.
'85 300D, "Gandalf".

Right now it's more about finding the time to do it.

When I do it, the source you speak of will be exactly the route I go.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

Before you order a rebuild kit from anyone, tear the turbo down and make sure it isn't too worn out to rebuild. I just finished building a turbo for my SDL. The original turbo was worn enough to cause high oil consumption. The ring gap for the "piston ring" on the turbine side has a maximum clearance limit of .003" where mine was at .009" (3 times the max clearance). With that much wear it is not a candidate for rebuild. I sourced another parts turbo which was in spec and used the turbine/shaft and center cartridge for rebuild in my project.


It's also worth getting a rebuild kit from somewhere like the GPopShop vs the M-Source since you can get a stepped-gap piston ring for the turbine shaft. Obviously it wasn't an OEM option, but for a 30+ year old turbine, anything to reduce potential oil consumption is of benefit.

__________________
Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

Also a good call. Plan is to tear down the turbo from my spare engine, rebuild that, then swap them over.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

My rebuilt turbo went in today and all I can say is HOLY COW did that make a difference. Not only is the blue cloud and the disgusting reek it caused gone but the power difference is indescribable. I think that original turbo was further gone than I thought it was...

__________________
Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

Thank you for sharing that; I'm going to have to bump my rebuild up the list.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap