Dead 300D

I think I killed my 300d this morning. I had changed the oil on sunday and had to wrestle with the canister that the filter sits in. I've converted it to run on WVO, and the coolant line now travels closer to that canister than it did, necessitating a little struggle to swap filters. I am now pretty sure that I knocked a fitting loose. I made it about a mile and a half and almost up a steep hill before it lost power and a few seconds later died. I rolled it backwards into someone's driveway and left them a note. It was forming a puddle under it. It was coming out fast, but slowed after a few seconds. It was definitely coming from the area of the filter. Initially the engine wouldn't turn over. I tried it about five minutes later and it turned over, surprisingly started right up, then slowly died over the course of three or so seconds. There was no oil on the dipstick. It also showed no oil pressure. So it is not seized, but obviously ran for about two or three minutes with either a lot less oil than it should have, or none at all.

Once my wife picked me up and brought me home, I spotted the huge puddle of oil in my drive. It trailed a four or five inch wide swath out into the road, which made it about 100 feet before shrinking in width significantly. So now I think I might either have to rebuild the engine, or at least find the leak. Everything is coated in oil, so that might be a challenge.

My plan is to have it towed home, clean the engine off as well as I can, try to fix that leak, then fill it with oil, run a compression test, and decide whether the engine is worth keeping or not based on the results. Does that sound like a decent plan?

My other plan revolves around using the free page on Craigslist and finding an old subaru wagon, but I won't go too far into that.

Bill

Reply to
weelliott
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I don't know how you can screw up on the oil filter canister cap... it is really impossible to screw up unless you forgot to put back the big o-ring.

Take it home and do the compression test on it. Vege oil is a form of lubrication also... so it may not be as bad as you think..

Reply to
Tiger

Dipstick only shows the top 2 quarts of oil.

Reply to
Tiger

The oil below must have fell out lol lol

Reply to
Richard Bird

I may have screwed up the o-ring. I don't remember checking for it now that you mention it. I was worried abotu the wrestling match ahead to get it back on. I actually hope I did drop it somewhere. That would be much easier to troubleshoot than some fitting or line on the side or bottom of that canister. I was just commenting about the longevity of these engines yesterday. Apparently they only make it a little over a mile when they have no oil. As far as veggie oil, I was running on diesel at the time since I was not up to temp yet.

And as far as the dipstick indication, I am farily sure that I lost enough oil that I had oil starvation since when I started it up for the three seconds that it would run the oil gauge didn't twitch a bit.

Bill

Reply to
weelliott

I'm sure glad my 250D w124 has one of these handy oil level warning lights.

X.

Reply to
Ximinez

Bill, redo that coolant line to the WVO unit so it will not interfere with your oil canister. Hoses are cheap and it doesn't make that much of a difference with one extra feet.

When I redid my friend's WVO, I routed the coolant hose behind the canister so it is out of the way and the other one is in front of the canister but well below the canister so it doesn't interfere with it.

Diesel is still oil...

Reply to
Tiger

IMO you should do the minimum necessary to get it started. Run it up and down in speed to see if the main bearings or wrist pins knock. If you have no knocking or piston slap you should be ok even if the compression is down somewhat.

If however, you've wiped out the bearings then you are in real trouble(read $$).

If the bearings are OK, the compression is down somewhat and the engine runs, then you will be losing some efficiency. As long as it can run, and there is not excessive blowby then you can attack the compression situation when/if you feel that it is a problem. Many engines have run a long time with reduced compression. (It's a question of the degree of seriousness).

HTH,

EJ in NJ

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Reply to
Ernie Willson

Looking back on it I had forgotten a few things until hours later. I had turned down the radio because I thought I heard the high pitch noise of bearing failure. I had slowed to cross railroad tracks and heard it. I turned down the radio to listen to it, but assumed it was a wheel bearing and hoped it would at least get me to work then home. It didn't occur to me at that time to suspect a wheel bearing or even to look at the oil pressure. I didn't even remember this until last night.

I definitely agree on rerouting the WVO hoses. I had originally set them up in a much more friendly manner, but rerouted them a few months ago in an attempt to make it easier to get air out of the system. I've got to find a good compromise.

I've always checked the brakes before going out into traffic, and for a puddle after filling with oil, but never have I thought to check for a puddle of oil AFTER starting the engine. It makes perfect sense, and definitely would have saved my hide. Now I know.

Reply to
weelliott

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