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#1
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Quote:
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86 Nissan 720 P/U - 285K miles and counting!! 91 Volvo 240 - 218K miles and still going strong. 00 Mercedes E320 - 111K miles and lovin it!!! |
#2
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This is a tough call.... you can say condensation but until some test is performed to eliminate a head gasket or breach between the jackets and the engine......tough call... I would lean more to the head gasket until proven otherwise, imho.
First off, I think thats an awful lot of cream build-up at that spot. I test drove a W201 89 190e 2.6 today with 192k and I noticed the same under the oil fill cap also. So, is it from short trips? How about some input from the guru's?
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the sooner you start... the sooner you'll get done ![]() ![]() ![]() 2007 Honda Accord EX 2007 Honda Accord SE V6 96 C220 97 Explorer - Found Another Home ![]() 2000 Honda Accord V6 - Found Another Home 85 300D - Found Another Home ![]() 84 300D - Found Another Home ![]() 80 300TD - Found Another Home ![]() Previous cars: 96 Caravan 87 Camry 84 Cressida 82 Vanagon 80 Fiesta 78 Nova Ford Cortina Opel Kadet 68 Kombi Contessa |
#3
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I've got it, too
Just as bad as JT, and it's definitely from condensation as opposed to a coolant leak.
I drive mine 40 minutes a day, and it's garage-kept at night. Given that the 112's & 113's had sludge problems too, I'd guess it's due to some combination of poor crankcase ventilation and cold block spots which promote condensation vs. other engine designs. |
#4
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Oil operating temperature is perhaps sub standard on these engines while operating? Has to reach at least 250 degrees to clear the oil. If these engines have oil coolers they are too efficient or the thermostat to put the cooler on line has a wrong value or is non existant. Oil does not boil till about 600 degrees if I remember.
Mercedes could have cheated on design and are trying to remove too much heat from the oil. Really hot oil is probably not a good thing but neither is oil running too cool. The gentleman running 40 miles each way does raise this as a possibility in my mind. I would contact mercedes and talk to them. Almost indicates this engine should not have an oil cooler if it has. I do not know anything about this engine I freely confess. Also if crankcase ventalation is that tight and it is really the problem it should be modified to preform it's function. A straight road tube modification would be vastly superior in my mind. Sounds like perhaps some poor design issues here. What is baffling is this area of engine design is so old how could they mess up this bad? A very junior engine engineer would catch it in the engines development stage. Does this company no longer care? Last edited by barry123400; 02-07-2007 at 12:20 PM. |
#5
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The more I thought about this the more serious a problem I considered it might be. I would pull the oil out the dip stick tube and put a litre or two into a calabrated metal container. This I might do at the half way point between normal oil changes. You might get by with a measuring stick as well.
Raise the container to four hundred degrees. I would not use an open flame but cautiously use something like an old electric hotplate. Outside well clear of houses etc of course. I am really concerned about a safety hazzard here. It might be better for the test to use about a pint of oil for example. Keep the oil about 400 degrees for about 1/2 hour. Read your level after it cools again. Calculate the amount percentagewise of contaminates boiled off. Talk to mercedes at higher than dealer level. Talk to lubrication oil supply people as well. That is if the level drops off somewhat. You cannot expect really long life of the engines if there is too much in the oil. The experts will know the tollerance allowance. Water in the oil will damage bearings as far as I know. Developing sludge might even oil starve something in the oil circuit as well. If for whatever reason the charactaristic of these engines cannot be defeated by modification. I would consider extracting all the oil periodically between oil changes I could get out the dip stick tube. Heat it up to boil off the water etc. and pour it back into the engine. Filtering it of course. So much depends on what the lubrication experts have to say. Certainly a pain in the posterior. I would much rather just try a road tube crankcase ventallation system attempt first. Or if these engines have an oil cooler investigate that and the operating oil temperature. Any of these methods might extend your engine life signifigantly. No I do not think the sky is falling. But moisture especially in the oil is a known bad condition. I again am not an expert in any way. Even hope I am wrong in my beliefs in this area. Or the problem is not as great as I suspect. Last edited by barry123400; 02-07-2007 at 12:18 PM. |
#6
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Rislone deisel crankcase addative good stuff
If you can find no mechanical explination. Try this product. You can find it at any truck stop.
I wouldnt quite on the car yet. In Minnesota and Wisconsin winters, what you see is in many engines all winter long. The real problems arrise when upper engine components dont get sufficient lubrication due to contaminated oil. BAD Rislone obsorbs and disipates moisture vapor and sludge in deisel fuel and engine oil, also improves lubrication. If used in a clean engine known to be susceptable, it will stop sludge from forming. This is a common problem with large sump engines that dont get driven to full operating temp. regularly or in your case a engine that isnt working very hard very long. With no coolant consumption it doesnt sound like a gasket leak. It is true as stated in previouse post ring blow by or poor crank vacum can cause this. It is like a air compressor drawing undried air, high (Head)and low (sump)temps under pressure create condensation. DEW point generators work on this principal. The additive will help disipate the moisture as it forms. The oil consumption could be caused by the dilution of the oil. Just my .02 Last edited by skhagen; 03-03-2007 at 03:08 AM. Reason: correction |
#7
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Well there are people here who change their fully synthetic oil every 5000 miles. That is rather silly.
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#8
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Hi Barry and thanks for replying. At some point this weekend I'm going to change the oil that's in it and send off a sample to blackstone labs to see what all is in it. I'll be sure to post the sample report as soon as they send it back. It usually takes about 5 to 7 business days for them to e-mail me the results, so look for a follow-up in about a week and a half.
__________________
86 Nissan 720 P/U - 285K miles and counting!! 91 Volvo 240 - 218K miles and still going strong. 00 Mercedes E320 - 111K miles and lovin it!!! |
#9
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Ok all, I finally received the oil sample results from blackstone. As most everyone suspected it was just moisture and not anti-freeze building up under the oil cap. I wanted to do the sample for not only peace of mind but to see how the engine was doing. It came back pretty good except for a noted high aluminum reading....hmmmm, not sure about that one but I'm going to do another sample in a few thousand miles to see if it is trending upwards or just a single event.
So here it is....all comments are welcome!!! ![]()
__________________
86 Nissan 720 P/U - 285K miles and counting!! 91 Volvo 240 - 218K miles and still going strong. 00 Mercedes E320 - 111K miles and lovin it!!! |
#10
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Just like this Ramblin Wreck predicted. Go Jackets!
__________________
Prost! ![]() |
#11
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jt, whats a test like that cost?
__________________
the sooner you start... the sooner you'll get done ![]() ![]() ![]() 2007 Honda Accord EX 2007 Honda Accord SE V6 96 C220 97 Explorer - Found Another Home ![]() 2000 Honda Accord V6 - Found Another Home 85 300D - Found Another Home ![]() 84 300D - Found Another Home ![]() 80 300TD - Found Another Home ![]() Previous cars: 96 Caravan 87 Camry 84 Cressida 82 Vanagon 80 Fiesta 78 Nova Ford Cortina Opel Kadet 68 Kombi Contessa |
#12
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Blackstone charges $20 for the test you're seeing and $25 if you want a TBN number. I didn't bother with the TBN because I had less then 3K miles on the oil. It appears the Rotella T Synthetic held up quite well and would be a good oil to try for extended oil drains. I would have to assume the rather high Iron number is caused by my fuel dilution and short tripping whereas I haven't had time to find out why the Aluminum was kind of high. As soon as I do some research I'll be sure to report back.
__________________
86 Nissan 720 P/U - 285K miles and counting!! 91 Volvo 240 - 218K miles and still going strong. 00 Mercedes E320 - 111K miles and lovin it!!! |
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