Engine Oil consumption

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Azeem

Active Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2016
Messages
169
Location
Pakistan
Car
W211 E270 cdi - 2003
Hi,
My E270cdi is consuming a lot more engine oil since last oil change. My oil change interval is at every 7500 km. I use Mobil1 Delvac 5w40 and it takes 6.5 litre oil on every oil change. The mileage on last oil change was 185k and i topped up 1 litre at 188k. On Sunday while driving a message popped up in instrument cluster to 'add 1 litre at next refueling' when I got home after 5 minutes, I let the engine cooled down and in evening when I checked oil it showed 4.5 litres oil.
On Monday instead of adding 2 litres of oil to top up, I went for a complete oil change @ 191,600km. I asked the mechanic to measure the oil that he was draining from engine and it was exactly 4.5 litres. So electronic guage is not faulty. We put the same oil measured 6.5 litres and I checked it in instrument cluster again, it was exactly 6.5 litres. I drove the ~ 100km since then, when I checked the engine oil this morning it showed 5.9 litres of oil! I am not sure where half litre has gone, it can't consume this much oil in two days with no apparent leaks (I think).
I took the engine covers off this morning and there's no oil in air filter box or on turbo side. I changed the air filter couple of months ago and it was still clean. I did observe some gunked up oil on engine head side facing the air filter box (see pics). I have taken a couple of pictures for experts for their opinion on how to fix this issue.
Ever since I have owned this car, it was consuming oil but not that much.
Thanks in advance.
 

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If you are not putting out blue smoke, and if the inside of the undertray is reasonably dry, I would say there's nothing to worry about. the small amount of oil at the top of the engine certainly doesn't explain where 0.6 of a litre of oil in 100km has gone.
But.... bearing in mind the instrument console is Digital (inherent accuracy +/- one digit) it's most likely gone in the new oil filter.

Just keep an eye on it, especially the blue smoke...
 
Thanks Paul. Its not giving blue smoke and I don't see leakage on inside tray either. One question though, stupid as it may seem, if 0.6 litre is gone in new oil filter, should i top up the oil to bring it to 6.5 level or leave it as is?
 
Good one. Will put 0.3 litre in and will check.
 
The gunky oil between the air filter and engine on your picture looks like it could be spillage from topping-up and refills over the years.
 
I am assuming that there is an oil separator fitted to your engine. If so it could well be the source of your problem.

Also for some reason sticking swirl flaps can cause oil loss.
 
I am assuming that there is an oil separator fitted to your engine. If so it could well be the source of your problem.

Also for some reason sticking swirl flaps can cause oil loss.
Yes, there is oil separator and I changed it on my last engine oil change. The old one was fine too but I changed it since I had a spare one. Manifold is a brand new too, changed it last year.
 
You have covered almost everything. Are the swirl flaps working ok? Other than that the oil has to be going past the rings or guides.
 
I presume they are working fine otherwise it would give an error or CEL?
 
One thing that's evidently quite common to fail is the rubber seal where the return oil pipe from the turbo re-enters the crankcase. There's quite a flow rate to and from the turbo when the engine is running. It sometimes difficult to see the origin of engine oil leaks as with the engine fan and vehicle slipstream engine oil leaks can migrate quite a distance from their origin. item 53 in the picture
getImage.php



https://www.ilcats.ru/mercedes/?fun...odel=647961&group=18&subgroup=075&language=en

evidently quite common on sprinters that use the same OM647 ENGINE
Mercedes Sprinter T1N Large engine oil loss / leak (Turbo area)

Another known failure irrc is in the engine oil filter heat exchanger bolted to the side of the oil filter housing. item 35 They can leak internally resulting in oil leaking into the cooling system which then fills with goop and can be mistaken for a failed head gasket. there was a thread on the forum about this a while back
getImage.php


https://www.ilcats.ru/mercedes/?fun...odel=647961&group=18&subgroup=060&language=en
 
Last edited:
Thanks Grober, I was reading the article you shared on Sprinter engine oil loss, I do see leakage on resonator/pipe coming out from inter cooler (towards right side of radiator if you are facing the car front).
 
Thanks Grober, I was reading the article you shared on Sprinter engine oil loss, I do see leakage on resonator/pipe coming out from inter cooler (towards right side of radiator if you are facing the car front).
I took the air filter box out to take a look at the pipe going into sump but it is apparently dry and I don't see any oil leaking. I cleaned the side of the head which was accessible after I took the air filter box out and I cleaned it thoroughly. Cleaned the red seal of the turbo. I am going to put it back and will observe if there's any leakage and will report back.
 
Something similar on a mate of mine's old Diesel Ford Mondeo , it absolutely drinks oil, he buys the cheapest stuff he can get his hands on to keep the old pig topped up.

It shows no signs of leaks or blowing it out the exhaust pipes and has passed 2 MOT's since it started on it's drinking spree. He has given up worrying about it as the car has little value.

I am not suggesting you do the same , but the oil consumption on some modern engines can be quite alarming.
 
Something similar on a mate of mine's old Diesel Ford Mondeo , it absolutely drinks oil, he buys the cheapest stuff he can get his hands on to keep the old pig topped up.

It shows no signs of leaks or blowing it out the exhaust pipes and has passed 2 MOT's since it started on it's drinking spree. He has given up worrying about it as the car has little value.

I am not suggesting you do the same , but the oil consumption on some modern engines can be quite alarming.
Thanks. While I cleaned it this morning, I did see some oil seeping through resonator though and its been like that for at least 2-3 years. I have changed the lower section of the pipe going to the inter cooler (thinking that it is cracked) to no effect.
 

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