Crankcase oil completely consumed MEP004

[SurfinElvis]

Relatively low hours (400). Sat for years. Been running fine with little smoke on heated (160 degree F) WVO.
Sump pumped dry, oil pressure switch shut down motor as designed.
Am I looking at a ring replacement? Just happened a few hours ago, no time yet for compression test. Valves recently adjusted, no obvious knocks or noises prior to this event.

 

[FormerNewMVGuy]

This may sound stupid, But how often do you check the oil.? Mine has 460 hrs on it, is super clean, but when ran 24/7 it will use a bit of oil . I'm gonna estimate about a quart in two days of non stop running.

 

[SurfinElvis]

I check fluids before each start. Only 1 quart oil consumed in 200 hours. Oil was fine at 5:00pm. Genset shut down at 1am. No oil.

 

[Triple Jim]

Didn't it shut down when the oil level got low, as opposed to empty, so that damage was prevented?

 

[steelypip]

No puddle anywhere? Then it all went through the engine and was burned. Fill the crankcase back up, start it, and do a blow-by check. If it's burning that much oil then I expect a lot of blow-by. If so, you've probably got broken rings, a cracked piston, scored bore(s) or possibly several of the above.

The other possibility is something horribly wrong with the crankcase vent system or the oil. Is what oil is left in the sump of normal viscosity, appearance, and odor? I can imagine getting some fuel dilution (from, say, a leaking injection pump), which then reduces oil viscosity and foam resistance, causing more blow-by and foaming of the oil out the crankcase breather. For that matter, a crankcase full of HD30 out the exhaust should have resulted in soot or oil in the muffler. Have a look.

 

[SurfinElvis]

What's left of the 15w-40 in the oil filter is a gummed up mess that I suspect to be WVO. Put 5 quarts oil in the motor, fired it up felt a few seconds. No knocks or strange noises.

 

[FormerNewMVGuy]

I've heard that WVO , turns the motor oil to glue when it bypass's the rings, don't know how true that is, but its what I've heard

 

[Triple Jim]

Elvis, I can't remember if we talked about it before, but have you considered turning the WVO into biodiesel? That's supposed to be compatible with anything designed to run diesel fuel, as long as you stay above the gel temperature, which is higher than diesel.

 

[SurfinElvis]

I have been running WVO for seven years in a Mercedes and a land rover diesel. 130k miles and have never seen anything remotely resembling this. 300 hours of trouble-free ops then, suddenly, a major issue with no warning.

 

[PeterD]

... Fill the crankcase back up, start it, and do a blow-by check. If it's burning that much oil then I expect a lot of blow-by. If so, you've probably got broken rings, a cracked piston, scored bore(s) or possibly several of the above.

The other possibility is something horribly wrong with the crankcase vent system or the oil...

1. I'd suggest a complete oil change based on other posts stating the oil quality has deteriorated.

2. Checking the breather is easy, pull the air-filter off and the breather tube vents directly into the area behind the filter.

3. I personally would never run WVO in any engine. I know people who do. I have a good friend who was selling and promoting systems to run WVO. In the end, he found that the cost of (constant) repairs far outweighed the benefit of free fuel. For the record he no longer sells these systems anymore either!

4. Everyone has ignored valve seals (which probably are not the problem for this particular case) but a broken valve seal can lead to excessive oil consumption. However, when I did my MEP-004 rebuild I did find my valve seals to be in good condition (but replaced 'em anyway.)

 

[SurfinElvis]

Just removed the air filter, valve cover and intake manifold. No sign of the gummy mess in the valve cover vent can screen or intake manifold.

 

[SurfinElvis]

If anyone has leads on parts sources for the D198 (seals, gaskets, rings, etc) please PM me with contact info. Thanks.

 

[PeterD]

If anyone has leads on parts sources for the D198 (seals, gaskets, rings, etc) please PM me with contact info. Thanks.

Contact Jerry or Linda Bero at hercules_parts@yahoo.com. They have *everything* you will need if you want to do a rebuild.

I'd suggest and oil change, flush the fuel system and get the WVO out, and put in some good diesel and see how it goes. It is possible that things may improve enough to eliminate the need for a full rebuild, but I'm not sure (I'm an optimist, and you loose little as long as you are careful to not run out of oil for example...)

BTW, Jerry and Linda are great, and they answered a question I had that no one else knew the answer to!

 

[steelypip]

4. Everyone has ignored valve seals (which probably are not the problem for this particular case) but a broken valve seal can lead to excessive oil consumption. However, when I did my MEP-004 rebuild I did find my valve seals to be in good condition (but replaced 'em anyway.)

I didn't ignore them, I considered them and decided they were unlikely to be the cause in this case. 1: it's a diesel - which means that the intake tract pressure is always close to atmospheric (no throttle). Most remarkable cases of oil consumption down valve stems I've seen involved worn valve guides, leaky/missing intake valve stem seals, and a spark-ignition engine that idles a lot (like most car engines). These engines suck oil down the intake valve stems. A diesel wouldn't. 2: He reports that it starts and runs easily, which suggests that it has good compression. Really worn valve guides would be suggestive of high overall wear, which in turn would mean low compression and probably a generally bad performer.