bdobaza@gmail

Performed a valve lash adj. on my 84 300sd turbodiesel. TONS of black silicone on the old gasket (and in the valve cover around the riveted plate. Why?!), spent HOURS meticulously scraping, cleaning.
After reassembly and initial start-up, I popped the oil fill cap to watch the valve train run. The cam lobe oiler was dribbling instead of squirting onto the lobe like it should. Blipped the throttle to see if the stream would increase, but did not.
Immediately shut the car down, removed valve cover, checked lobes for wear (engine ran for less than 2 minutes) pulled oiler tube, blew out w/ compressed air. Suspected bits of silicone, but couldn't find any. Still getting up the courage to reassemble and restart again. Any thoughts? Oil pressure is 3 bar @ idle, cold engine.

Rmac58

Not sure about any cam lobe oilers. These engines do have under piston oil squirters, but you can't see 'em, obviously.

You have normal oil pressure. Is there any unusual wear on the cam lobes?

The plate in the valve cover is a baffle.

Glad you removed any silicone.

bdobaza@gmail

Thanks for the reply!

This tube squirting oil onto the cam lobes is what I'm talking about:

You can actually see in the video this guy also has poor oiling, near the back of the tube. The front squirts directly onto the lobe, while the last few just drip straight down.

According to Mitchell's, it also lubes the camshaft bearings from #2 on up.

"Vertical passage also supplies oil to No. 1 camshaft
bearing. An external oil tube attached to No. 1 camshaft bearing
support lubricates other camshaft bearings and rocker arms."
Copyright © 1998 Mitchell Repair Information Company, LLC

Before the valve adj, the oil stream was straight onto the cam lobes. Now, it barely reaches the lobe. Obviously there is a reduction in flow, which could mean the camshaft bearings are also being starved.
Since my post, I reassembled everything and started the engine (with some SuperLube synthgrease on the lobes to protect them), but no change. Still a lazy, dribbling flow from the oiler. Didn't let it get to operating temp. Think I'll plug in the block heater, then try again. That way it won't have to run as long.

Cam lobes showed little to no wear (dragged my fingernail across the lobe surface, felt smooth) only what looked like oil breakdown streaks/stains.

Rmac58

I see, thanks, never paid any attention to that before.

All the pics I have are from a different angle.

The supply seems, anyway, to be from the front end, as the rear appears to be crimped closed.

I would think the only way to clear it out is to remove and clean it.

Keep us posted.

bdobaza@gmail

Contacted Mercedessource.com (where I bought my valve adj wrench set) about the issue. They said it was unlikely silicone made it to the lubricator (through that tiny oil passage, into the #1 camshaft bearing, then finally into the tube) and that blowing it out probably did the trick.

I sacked up and just ran the thing after running the block heater for a few hours. Once the engine got over 40C, the oiler began working properly. Only took a few minutes of operation. I could actually watch the flow gradually increase.

Since, I have driven it about 180 miles (mostly highway trips to see family) with no issues. Engine running better and stronger after the valve adj (difference is noticeable even after injector rebuild w/Monark nozzles. Adjust your valves!).

In summation, must have been overly cautious about the situation. I've invested more time and money in this thing than is reasonable, so paranoia makes sense. Guys and their mechanical love affairs...

Rmac58

Glad to hear it.

Nothing wrong with being overly cautious.