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  #1  
Old 06-30-2005, 08:53 AM
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240D very high oil consumption

Good morning all.

I was given a 1978 240D yesterday and took it for it's maiden voyage, a 4 1/2 hour 400 km trip.

My initial concern is that the oil consumption is 1 litre per 120 km (1 quart per 70 miles) Other than rings is there anything in the intake that would account for this? I noticed that occasionally the rpms don't drop when the accelerator is released so maybe these are related?

The car has been parked for a year or so and the PO told me that the oil consumption was "very high" when he parked it.

Thanks in advance.

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  #2  
Old 06-30-2005, 08:58 AM
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Is it smoking ?
Is it leaking ?
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  #3  
Old 06-30-2005, 09:07 AM
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I would clean off the engine off. Spread some paper on the ground, let the engine run(starting with full oil) and watch for leaks. Hopefully it is a leaky oil cooler line, oil pan gasket or something simple....
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  #4  
Old 06-30-2005, 08:30 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dropout
I was given a 1978 240D yesterday
Congratulations on your good fortune.

My 240D leaked when I bought it. Check the hose that leads from your valve cover to your air cleaner. Is it cracked? Is there a lot of "crud" on it, particularly at the ends? Fixing this solved one of two major leaks that my 240D had.

The other was fixed by replacing the oil pan gasket.

I hope that your car is leaking, and not *burning* oil. Leaks are often easy to fix.

Good luck. Let us know more about your car when you can.

- Patrick
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  #5  
Old 06-30-2005, 09:24 PM
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It should be smoking pretty bad if it was burning that much oil. Hopefully its just a leak or 2.
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  #6  
Old 06-30-2005, 09:43 PM
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Thanks for the replies.

It doesn't seem to be smoking, although I drove it in the dark and it won't start today - probable glow plug relay.

There are a few drips where it was parked, although a lot less than I would have expected if it was a massive leak.

There is a puddle of oil in the motor mount support bracket on the passenger side though.

There seems to be a bit of a leak at the valve cover gasket and the PO has no idea when the last valve adjustment was done so I guess that's the first project.
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  #7  
Old 07-03-2005, 10:17 AM
Brandon314159
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I would take care of that breather tube, change your valve cover gasket, do your adjustment, then run from there.

That breather could be plugged up or broken or cracked or ...

Have fun! I love my 82 240D to death
It smokes like a big dog when I fire it up but there isn't a spec of oil on the ground.
Only when cold too...already checked valves...has good power cold and hot...perhaps just needs to be driven harder
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  #8  
Old 07-03-2005, 10:40 AM
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"It smokes like a big dog when I fire it up "--Brandon

Put some new valve stem seals in it.. less than $20 ... 98 percent chance it will stop that...
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  #9  
Old 07-03-2005, 05:01 PM
Brandon314159
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Quote:
Originally Posted by leathermang
"It smokes like a big dog when I fire it up "--Brandon

Put some new valve stem seals in it.. less than $20 ... 98 percent chance it will stop that...
I have not commenced a search yet however how long does this job take (about) for a reasonably skilled wrencher?

-Brandon
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  #10  
Old 07-03-2005, 05:13 PM
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I have not done it myself ... yet... mine are sitting in my glove compartment.. but I would allow four hours to do it...
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  #11  
Old 07-03-2005, 08:11 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dropout
Good morning all.

...I noticed that occasionally the rpms don't drop when the accelerator is released so maybe these are related?...

Thanks in advance.
This could be due to the cold start key being adjusted too tightly. In the engine compartment look for a wire leading to the arms of the fuel relay and there you will find the adjustment screw. My 240D just came back from a valve adjustment and I had this problem, quite annoying, until I found the adjustment screws. It is still a bit high bit I can live with it until I readjust it again.It is related to the idle speed.
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  #12  
Old 07-04-2005, 03:30 PM
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The vent line from the vaccum pump to the breather should be checked to see if there is oil inside it. If so your diaphram on your vaccum pump has a leak and oil is going past it up to the breather. That line should be really clean inside in my opinion. A 1978 will have this setup I believe but the newer ones vent to the crankcase. A litre or quart every 125 miles is pretty heavy oil loss. Might also account for your not slowing down when removing foot from pedal as well. You might be burning the base oil a little. There is a slight chance it is more noticable on down grades as more oil can get by the diaphram when the nose of the car is pointed downward. Simple check would be to remove the vaccum pump vent line from the air cleaner assembley and tape on a small container and see if anything shows up or pedal starts acting normally.

Last edited by barry123400; 07-04-2005 at 03:36 PM.
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  #13  
Old 07-08-2005, 03:55 PM
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I finally had time to investigate a bit further.

As far as I can tell, the hose from the vacuum pump to the air cleaner is clean and dry.

There is oil in the air cleaner housing on the inside of the air cleaner. The intake is damp and black and inside of the hose from the top of the valve cover to the intake is wet and black. I have not pulled the valve cover yet, although I have pushed a screwdriver into the hole where the hose attaches and it hits something so I assume the baffle is in place. The rubber elbow on the valve cover is cracked but there is no oil leaking on to the valve cover.

Where do I go from here?
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  #14  
Old 07-08-2005, 04:26 PM
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Valve stem seals

I've got a 1976 240D, close to the same engine as your's. Mine goes through a quart every 500 miles. The oil looks "burnt" and the compression on one of the cylinders is around 295 PSI, so I'm fairly sure there is some burning going on.

I just finished putting valve stem seals in. If you're going to adjust the valve clearance, put the seals in first since you'll have to adjust the valves after putting the seals in anyway. It is a fairly simple job, if you can adjust the valves then replacing the seals is no problem. One piece of advice though, make sure the piston is near top dead center when you're working on a particular valve, otherwise it could drop into the combustion chamber.

My lower engine was also filthy with oil gunk so I decided to replace the pan gasket at the same time. You can imagine my horror when I found that 10 of the mid-crankcase bolts (not pan gasket bolts) were finger-loose. One was even missing completely. I've gone through and tightened them all, then checked and re-checked again. They're not easy to get to and since the engine is so filthy I'll be digging oil out of my finger nails for a month. I'm hoping that 90% of my oil loss was from leakage at high rpm's, but I'll know for sure when I get the engine running again (it also needs a new vacuum pump diaphragm).

I like the idea of cleaning the engine, then running it over a layer of newspaper.

Good luck!
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  #15  
Old 07-08-2005, 04:27 PM
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Since you do not think you are burning the oil I think you need to go with the suggestion above about cleaning your engine and then looking for a leak...
There are leaks which only happen when the oil is under pressure.. so you won't see too much in the driveway at home... it will be put out on the ground while you are moving...
Take Cheer... a leak is ever so much better than burning the oil...

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