the 280 te wagon runs at close to 100. a little under when it's cool outside and a little hotter when i'm in traffic. the oil pressure will drop to 1 bar at idle and a hair or two under if the a/c is on. is this normal? i run 20/50 dino oil. i see posts where members talk of 20 to 24 mpg, is that right? i think i'm getting closer to 16.

Normal will be around 82 degrees.

YOur oil pressure is indicative of some wear but is well within the normal range which extends down to 1/2.

With no wear I believe about 1.5 when warm is normal with it being lower if the car is run hard and gotten very hot.

Sixteen mpg would be normal for around town. 24 would be very high for an automatic equipped gas wagon. In my 280e euro with five speed overdrive and 369 rear end I would seldom exceed 22 mpg highway running 70 to 75. I expect yours is running fine. Its a pretty heavy not very aerodynamic car.

The 280e is a workhorse strong durable engine but does not get much better mileage than a v8. The plus side is that a 280e is about as durable as a 617 diesel and will run about forever if taken care of. I know a fellow here in Lafayette who has one with about 400k on the engine without a rebuild.

Mine got flooded and we had to take it apart and go through it, and at 140k the bottom end only required cleaning the pistons and new rings from the flooding. The bearings showed no wear and we put them back in. I use it for autocross only and it sees a lot of the higher rpm regularly with no sweat. We did a valve job and rebuilt the oil pump while it was apart....new cam chain guides too.

Those 280e s are very sweet motors.....no economy engine though.

Tom W

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.