oil leak into air filter '79 300TD

my '79 300TD is leaking and burning oil at an alarming rate. it appears that oil is pooling in the air filter housing (the air filter itself is *drenched* in motor oil and oil is pooled in the filter housing. Also, the tablespoons of oil that pool on the pavement when the engine is hot (it doesn't leak at all overnight or when the car sits cold) are always found underneath, roughly, the air filter housing). also, the car intermittently blows a steady stream of blue smoke from the exhaust pipe that smells like burned motor oil. Strangely, the amount of smoke in the exhaust seems to vary...

i just had an oil change, thinking that maybe my oil had gotten thinned by fuel or something, but no improvement.

rings? valve seats? mysterious blow by? what gives?

THANKS!

Forums

Diesel Engine Specific Aid

Chassis Model Number

W123

also, loss of vacuum

to add to my post above, i have also been experiencing a vacuum loss (poor shutoff, hard braking, slow locks). there is a hose that attaches to the top of the air cleaner from what looks like the vacuum pump-is it possible that oil is getting into the filter that way? my internet wanderings yielded a post about a "torn vacuum diaphram" causing the problem i described above...

Could be

A torn vacuum pump diaphragm can indeed allow oil to be sucked back into the intake. It may not be your only problem (could be engine blow by), but it is certainly worth rebuilding the vacuum pump first. We have a complete kit with instructions and special tools.

CLICK HERE to order.

Thanks! Ok. I replaced the

Thanks! Ok. I replaced the diaphram and check valves in the vacuum pump and put everything back together and am still not getting enough vacuum to shut off the engine. I have your nifty vacuum troubleshooting manual and have been going through it systematically and am hung up! All the vacuum lines are tight near the brake booster and the engine shuts off immediately when i hook my hand vacuum pump directly to the vacuum cutoff on the the injection pump.

I suspect that I'm still not getting enough vacuum from the vacuum pump. Here's why: when I hook up my hand vaccum pump (I don't have a standalone vacuum guage) to the line coming directly from the vacuum pump (the brake booster is not in the equation at all!), the needle oscillates very quickly at around 5 inches. Also, when I put my finger over the end of said line, it puffs and sucks alternately very fast with a slight preponderance of suck (in more ways than one!).

Flummoxed! Does it sound like I maybe goofed and put a check valve in wrong during the pump rebuild? The two check valves should be facing opposite directions, right? (There is no suction on the line that goes from the vacuum pump to the air cleaner.) Is there anything else to check before I take the whole bleedin' thing apart again and do another rebuild?

Thanks.

Tracing no vacuum

If you have isolated the main vacuum line by plugging it off at the end going into the brake booster and everywhere else - and still don't have vacuum - then there is something wrong at the pump. I would start by inspecting check valves and sealing rings. If those appear to be ok with cover off the pump rotate engine and make sure you have adequate pump action.