Hi All,
I'm new here and new to MB cars. I have a 1991 SD with 63,000 miles in my garage. Purchased from a dealer in FL, delivered via truck to me in Missouri.

Upon inspection, the oil was THICK and appeared to have a lot of hours on it. (Very high in viscosity, stained my hands dark black, etc) I dropped the oil and changed out the oil filter, careful to clean the filter canister, the tube, its orifice, etc. Changed the o ring and so on.

Replaced it with a little over 8 quarts of Mobile Delvac 15-40. Poured fresh oil into the filter housing before buttoning it up.

General inspection showed some leaking at the turbocharger, indicating to me turbo seal issues.

Prior to the oil change, the car ran well.

After the oil change, I started it, while still in the air on jack stands, and within 60 seconds the car started putting out intense oil smoke exhaust - and I mean INTENSE.

My first reaction was that the turbo seal failed and it was pushing oil to the exhaust side of the turbo.

Does anyone think it possible that the dealer (an independent lot) added something to the oil to mask this issue?

Any of you MB experienced guys out there have any advice or insight for me?

Many thanks.

 

many thanks. The spec was 8.2 quarts of oil. That's what I put in. It's exactly at the max level mark.

the oil thickener trick amazes me that idiots are still doing that. I suppose a bent rod would end up with an elliptical cylinder bore... blah.

Do you think an oil thickener would mask a turbo seal gone bad?

Thanks so much for your help - these MB s are very new to me.

 

what is typically the issue with the Turbo on this engine? I see external oil leakage - not a lot, but present. There is no bearing whine from the turbo... so I do not think the turbo is trashed. What seals go wrong on these? It looks a lot like a Garret unit, but I can't be certain.