your W124 burning oil ?? my 260E does :(

[throne7]

Just checked the oil today and its all gone. I mean nothing on the metal portion of the dipstick its like way down on that little plastic tip at the bottom. I think the last time it had oil was around the middle of the metal portion and that was like maybe 400 miles ago. So this mean its a serious case of oil burning. What could be the cause? How much would it cost to fix this problem?

[throne7]

Originally Posted by throne7

Just checked the oil today and its all gone. I mean nothing on the metal portion of the dipstick its like way down on that little plastic tip at the bottom. I think the last time it had oil was around the middle of the metal portion and that was like maybe 400 miles ago. So this mean its a serious case of oil burning. What could be the cause? How much would it cost to fix this problem?

In the meantime, is the standard acceptable procedure to just top it up every time it drop? I guess this is ok if you don't use too expensive oil, cause otherwise thats a total waste. How do you folks go about handling this pesky little crisis?

[compress ignite]

That's a lot of oil.

Refill ...See if it will start.
do a search on "Blowby" excessive lower end pressure caused by ring or
cylinder wall wear.
Have you any visible leaks underneath?
How much smoke do you see in your rear view mirrors?

[throne7]

Originally Posted by compress ignite

That's a lot of oil.

Refill ...See if it will start.
do a search on "Blowby" excessive lower end pressure caused by ring or
cylinder wall wear.
Have you any visible leaks underneath?
How much smoke do you see in your rear view mirrors?

I look under the place where the car was when I pull out of the parking lot, and I do see some damp spots, not sure if its from transmission or engine oil. I also did a check on transmission (cold check, ie. not after the car has ran) because I was just doing an oil check on cold engine. I notice there wasn't much transmission oil either. Is transmission oil only present after you run the car? Or should there be some on a cold engine? My god! I think I am in deep trouble.

[throne7]

Originally Posted by compress ignite

That's a lot of oil.

Refill ...See if it will start.
do a search on "Blowby" excessive lower end pressure caused by ring or
cylinder wall wear.
Have you any visible leaks underneath?
How much smoke do you see in your rear view mirrors?

By the way, I don't see much smoke from the rear view mirrors. At least this is somewhat comforting.

[Tomguy]

Dont bother checking tranny fluid with it cold and the engine not running. It's as useful as using an eyedropper to drain the Atlantic.

You're probably leaking more oil than you're burning - or you'd notice clouds of smoke. That is a lot of oil.

[david s poole]

probable culprits are the valve stem seals.if you want to see how bad they are hold warm engine in 2nd gear and drive up to 5000rpm then back off the accel and look thru rear vision mirror.

[yal]

How does your radiator fluid look, any oil globs floating around? How does the side of the engine look just below the head gasket seal and around the valve cover gasket area, are they wet with oil. Take a quick whiff of the exhaust does it smell like burnt oil?

Last but not least what kind of oil and grade are you using?

[gmercoleza]

Remove and check your belly pan if you have one (most W124s do). Often when the engine leaks badly the oil just drips onto the belly pan and dries up into a film of sludge. The belly pan can be masking your oil leak. Common leak areas are the upper front engine cover, valve cover gasket, and believe it or not the oil cap seal.

Your oil loss is probably the result of both oil leaks and worn valve stem seals. Personally I would fix the leaks as doing so may reduce the oil loss to a manageable level. Replacing the valve stem seals is more work.

[lee polowczuk]

I would fill it up and do the stem seals...

i just picked up a 260e...and it is going through a quart at 350 miles... it runs perfectly...i will do this and my CE (finally) in the spring.

i will practice on the 260e and perfect the job on the CE. The CE goes through a quart in about 900-1100 miles depending on the driving. The 260E takes roughly a tankful of gas.

It sounds like you may have a leak issue as well...

[softconsult]

You could also have a small head gasket leak. My now retired '92 300E , for the last 130,000 miles leaked oil and coolant at a slow rate. Oil would go from mid-point on the stick to add oil light in roughly 400 to 600 miles. I identified the leak point early on. It is 2/3 rds back on the passenger side.
I could lie under there and watch it. I elected to simply add oil and coolant as needed. Car is now at 245K and running beautifully.

In my case there was no cross contamination between oil and coolant. Now you would suspect that there would be oil on the ground and oil in the belly pan, but that was not the case. The oil leak was caught in the air flow and swept backwards coating the bell housing and the transmission area.

So jack securely with floor jack and jack stands, remove belly pan and crawl under there with a flashlight. Look around and try to find the leak. If you don't have the tools or equipment to safely do this, then take it to a MB shop.

From the sound of your post, it may be best to simply take it to a shop as the fix is likely to be fairly difficult anyway. As previously posted, valve seals, front timing cover, or head gasket leak.

Steve

Steve

[300holst]

If you started with the oil level at the mid-point of the dip stick, you have 'lost' at least a quart of oil in 400 miles! That is excessive oil loss. My 300E uses about a quart in 5000 miles.

I'd guess you have a serious leak and maybe some oil coming down around the intake valve seals and then being burned. I'd expect to see some blue smoke out the back if the oil was burning. Have you looked at the condition of the spark plugs? If they are oil-fouled you know where the oil is going.

I wouldn't run the engine when it is that low on oil. keep the oil level up to about the mid range of the dipstick and find out where the oil is going ASAP.

I once had a 1953 Chevrolet which burned oil badly. On a trip from California to Iowa, I carried a case of oil in the trunk and added a quart at nearly every gas stop!

[dynalow]

Just a thought. Doesn't your low level oil lamp light up on the dashboard? Seems it would give an indication with a little more warning than being almost off the stick!.

FWIW, my 88CE slowly started burnng oil until it got to using a quart every 500 miles or so. On a regularly scheduled service interval (45,000) back in '03I was asked if I was burning oil. And I was, but not yet to the point of 1/500mi. The tech had checked the plugs as part of the service and noticed some fouling. (see previous post.)

Good news. Replaced the valve seals. ( see previous posts as a likely culprit). Problem solved. Never see the oil lamp bewteen changes now.

Indy price was $400.00 or so, alomst all labor. Seals were less than $40.00 IIRC.

[Mike Freeman]

103 engines are famous for oil consumption! Stem seals are a temporary fix ,you should check or have checked the valve guides for excessive wear.
If excessive wear is found the head will have to come off for repair. While the head is off check the cylinder bores, some engines never seated the rings and this can be confirmed by existance of fresh looking hone marks in the cylinders.
The tops of the pistons normally have oil ash deposits on them but if there is a clean area where the piston meets the cylinder the rings are pumping oil.
Good luck Mike

[Hit Man X]

My chum's '87 300E uses oil too. It's how the M103 is, just like the M110.