wallknight.

I also just went through the process of finding all of the oil leaks in my 1983 300D. I now have it completely sealed, not one leak.

My leaks were from:

1. there are two plugs in the front of the engine near the bottom of the vacuum pump. These plugs cover pins that I believe hold tensioners for the timing chain. Both of the plugs were finger tight on my 83 with 130kmiles. At first, I thought it was the vacuum pump to block gasket, but in hindsight, I think all of the problem in this area was the loose plugs.

2. The turbo to oil pan tube grommet and oring. This leak was on the front of the engine but more toward the passenger side.

I've heard that the front seal rarely goes bad unless you get the engine dangerously low on oil, as the design is really good.

I had no leaks from the injection pump to engine. I would not jump into that job unless you a fairly sure. Try to get a light into the 7 oclock position of the vacuum pump near the two plugs.

The reason I think it might be these plugs is that after I found this problem on my 300D, I went over to my 1980 240d, which had a small leak (which I thought was a front seal), and found one of the plugs finger tight. I tightened it down, and now that car is now completely sealed.

Let me know if you need a better description.

thanks
Joe