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Car Forum / Mercedes-Benz Cars / February 2008

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240 D blow by / oil usage.

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moon161@gmail.com - 08 Dec 2007 23:38 GMT
I have a 240 D with high oil usage that diminishes with the oil level
(as splash lube decreases, crank air dries out). Lack of an obvious
leak on the valve cover or head gasket, and the uniform coating of oil
under the hood make it look like blow by but I got some conflicting
information.

Ring blow by seems negligible based on the valve cover breather test
per: http://www.frybrid.com/forum/showthread.php?t=301

I can block the breather at a warm idle and engine speed does not
change at all over 10 seconds.

An oily blows out of the breather tube.

Crankcase vacuum as measured at the oil filler tube was 10-20 mm Hg at
about 1/2 throttle- hard to tell as it was as full scale is 760 mm Hg.

Manifold vacuum was 60-80 mm Hg at about 1/2 throttle.

So I'm confused, I thought I'd find high manifold vacuum drawing
excessive air through the crankcase or something. Do I just need to
replace the breather? And if so, where do I find one, tried autozone
and autohausaz, no luv.

What does this information say about the health of the engine as well.

Thanks,

Andy
-->> T.G. Lambach <<-- - 09 Dec 2007 01:40 GMT
Generally, blow-by indicates the piston rings are no longer holding
compression - its "blowing by" (the rings) into the crankcase. Usually
such motors burn oil and get hard to start, especially in cold weather.

Blow-by doesn't mess up the engine space, leaks do. If everything is oil
covered I suspect the motor's front crankshaft seal is leaking and that
oil is being blown all over the motor and engine space.

But you want to replace the breather - the hose from the valve cover to
the intake manifold (to dispose of the fumes).
www.PerformanceProducts.com  sells the rubber 90 degree "breather hose"
that attaches to the valve cover p/n 01-028 for $7.05 (Page 150 of their
free paper Catalog 55M)

Another possibility is a significant vacuum leak in the car or brake
booster. The later years use a vacuum pump that dumps its output air
into the motor so a vacuum leak adds to the crankcase air volume.

© 2007 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
permission.
moon161@gmail.com - 09 Dec 2007 03:31 GMT
On Dec 8, 5:40 pm, "-->> T.G. Lambach <<--" <"T.G. Lambach at
NoHamorSpamcomcast.net"> wrote:
> Generally, blow-by indicates the piston rings are no longer holding
> compression - its "blowing by" (the rings) into the crankcase. Usually
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> (c) 2007 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
> permission.

Ohhh,  thought the breather had a PCV valve. No, plumbings all set.

TG, you mentioned the vacuum leak before, but now I get it. An 82
should have the pump I does seem to leak some vacuum- the power locks
never work, and when i pull it out of the driveway and turn it off the
brake pedal is hard and it runs on till I stop it w/ the clutch. I
only see this before I drive it so I assume it's accumulating vacuum
and leaking it off overnite. I trust I can decay test each system w/ a
vacuum pump and go from there.Still, the additional flow should just
be looped & burnt if it goes to intake manifold.

Motor starts easy, it's been 20 F +/- glow plugs, crank a few revs,
touch the accelerator if you need to, hold a little pedal till it
stabilizes.

Can you get at the crankshaft seal just by moving the fan, radiator
and timing chain cover?
-->> T.G. Lambach <<-- - 09 Dec 2007 04:30 GMT
OK, OK, Stop.

The more you describe this car the more I believe the motor is fine but
is laboring from other, non-diesel, problems.

Forget about the front seal.

Find and fix the car's vacuum leak(s). You can't drive a car with
non-power brakes. There are vacuum check valves to precisely prevent
what you experience. There's the power brake and a small line to the
"comfort system" for the heater and door locks. Leak could be inside the
brake booster or the vacuum reservoir or ????.

One way is to plug the various systems and see when it's better.

If vacuum pump itself is weak, no worry, these pumps can be self rebuilt
with a $40 repair kit if that's necessary.

Fixing this will take some time and patience suggest you start with a
vacuum diagram so you know how it should be working.

Signature

© 2007 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
permission.

moon161@gmail.com - 09 Dec 2007 16:52 GMT
On Dec 8, 8:30 pm, "-->> T.G. Lambach <<--" <"T.G. Lambach at
NoHamorSpamcomcast.net"> wrote:
> OK, OK, Stop.
>
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
> (c) 2007 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
> permission.

Will take a look. I think the vent to cabin is already blocked off.
What vacuum should the pump produce, and what should the system hold?
I've got a 1 bar full scale vacuum gage.
-->> T.G. Lambach <<-- - 09 Dec 2007 19:13 GMT
My 1978-80 300SD Manual tests the vacuum pump suction at a connection
point between the brake booster and its vacuum check valve. Vacuum at
that point should be between 700 and 800 millibar 20.67 and 23.63" of Hg
after running the motor for a few minutes at idle. I don't know the
system's vacuum reserve capacity.

If your car's "comfort circuit" is disconnected, is its port on the
vacuum pump plugged? If not that may be the problem.
Signature

© 2007 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
permission.

moon161@gmail.com - 10 Dec 2007 00:22 GMT
On Dec 9, 11:13 am, "-->> T.G. Lambach <<--" <"T.G. Lambach at
NoHamorSpamcomcast.net"> wrote:
> My 1978-80 300SD Manual tests the vacuum pump suction at a connection
> point between the brake booster and its vacuum check valve. Vacuum at
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> (c) 2007 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
> permission.

Thanks. I can see oil in the manifold, and cleaned a bunch out of the
filter plenum, but how's it cross the filter, or otherwise get into
the engine compartment? A piece of paper over the intake made it look
like theres no overlap on the cylinder intake cycles, and thus no
rebounding flow out the intake.

Also, what's a good service manual for the 82 240D. I'm not suprised
that chiltons is lite on the details, but the benz 123 CD is super in
some spots, like wiring schematics, and not there at all for
references to the cars vacuum system?
-->> T.G. Lambach <<-- - 10 Dec 2007 02:06 GMT
The manuals to buy are the old M-B paper ones that are occasionally sold
on e-bay.com. There's a 123 chassis manual that covers the car in detail
but not the motor or transmission. Chilton tries to cover too many
models, leads the reader down the path to a repair and then stops,
leaving the reader hanging out to dry.

The other alternative is to pay an independent M-B shop to figure it out.
Signature

© 2007 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
permission.

-->> T.G. Lambach <<-- - 10 Dec 2007 22:37 GMT
Also see:  http://www.tmcpubl.com//mercedes.html

and www.books4cars.com
Signature

© 2007 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
permission.

Tom Plunket - 12 Dec 2007 07:26 GMT
> My 1978-80 300SD Manual tests the vacuum pump suction at a connection
> point between the brake booster and its vacuum check valve.

I tried to disconnect the valve from the hard plastic lines and couldn't
get anything to move.  Any recommendations on how to pop this check
valve out short of using a knife to cut the lines?

thx-
-tom!

--
Wan-ning Tan - 10 Dec 2007 04:35 GMT
I assume my 84 190D (OM601 engine) also has blow-by.  It has 253k miles
now, quite noisy and oil leaking out from the new oil cap and valve
cover gasket.  However, one thing I don't understand is, the start is
very easy.  After the glow plug light is off, the start is
instantaneous, not even taking one full second to crank.  I thought
blow-by means lower compression (yes, its compression is in the low
margin).  So why is it so easy to start?

> Generally, blow-by indicates the piston rings are no longer holding
> compression - its "blowing by" (the rings) into the crankcase. Usually
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> © 2007 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
> permission.
-->> T.G. Lambach <<-- - 10 Dec 2007 19:23 GMT
Blow-by is a result of lower compression and so a symptom of same. As to
why your motor starts easily.... good glow plugs, thin oil, good
battery, good starter etc.

At some point the compression will be insufficient to ensure quick
starts. Frequent oil changes, say 3K miles, will postpone that sad day.

Does it burn oil?

In "moon"'s case, his 240D starts well, like your engine, so I suspect
his motor's vacuum pump is blasting air into the crankcase and blowing
oil out the breather. I believe his 240D has a vacuum leak somewhere
which is the real culprit of the motor's oil loss.
Signature

© 2007 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
permission.

Wan-ning Tan - 11 Dec 2007 04:35 GMT
I can't say for sure if it burns oil, unless I capture all the leaking
oil and measure it :-)  There is never blue smoke though.

The oil goes down a quart every 3000 miles.  I consider the oil leak as
heavy, though not yet serious.  Most leak is from oil cap and valve
cover gasket (both new).  Some leak from head gasket (around cylinder #1
& 2).

> Blow-by is a result of lower compression and so a symptom of same. As to
> why your motor starts easily.... good glow plugs, thin oil, good
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> oil out the breather. I believe his 240D has a vacuum leak somewhere
> which is the real culprit of the motor's oil loss.
Tiger - 11 Dec 2007 15:14 GMT
One quart consumption every 3000 miles is absolutely normal.
moon161@gmail.com - 16 Dec 2007 05:19 GMT
They never covered "dealing with the obvious" in engineering school---
damn perfessers! Plugged the cabin vacuum line back into the T, now
idle, brakes, throttle response & shutdown are much better. If there's
any more oil use, it'll have to be a seal somewhere.

Thanks TG.

On Dec 10, 11:23 am, "-->> T.G. Lambach <<--" <"T.G. Lambach at
NoHamorSpamcomcast.net"> wrote:
> Blow-by is a result of lower compression and so a symptom of same. As to
> why your motor starts easily.... good glow plugs, thin oil, good
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> (c) 2007 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
> permission.
Wan-ning Tan - 12 Feb 2008 04:53 GMT
A follow up on the blow-by/low compression.

I guess my 190D's low compression is proved today.  It was 15 Fahrenheit
this morning.  The engine cranked but took several tries to start.  It
ran rough for about 15 seconds.  Tom is right.  That sad day may not be
too far away.

> Blow-by is a result of lower compression and so a symptom of same. As to
> why your motor starts easily.... good glow plugs, thin oil, good
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> oil out the breather. I believe his 240D has a vacuum leak somewhere
> which is the real culprit of the motor's oil loss.
Roland Franzius - 10 Dec 2007 19:59 GMT
Wan-ning Tan schrieb:
> I assume my 84 190D (OM601 engine) also has blow-by.  It has 253k miles
> now, quite noisy and oil leaking out from the new oil cap and valve
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> blow-by means lower compression (yes, its compression is in the low
> margin).  So why is it so easy to start?

There are three oe four piston rings, the upper two making the
compression, the lower ones are scratching most of the oil from the wall
going down. If the oil rings are sittking clogged you have nice
compression but you burn rests of oil at the wall at each stroke.

The main other oil leak to combustion chamber are the valve gaskets but
thats not so much of a problem for diesels. The sucking vacuum at open
intake valves is small compared to a gas engine running at closed throttle.

Signature

Roland Franzius

 
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