Hi everybody,

Today, I replaced the leaking oil level sensor and its plastic connector that had come apart on a 1987 420SEL. While I could have just replaced the o-ring, I decided to replace the whole thing.

One problem encountered was a snapped oil pan bolt. 2 bolts on the driverside go actually through the oil pan and serve to hold a bracket onto which some part of the A/C unit is connected. So there is a nut each on top of 2 oil pan bolts. Not realizing that, I struggled with these two to loosen them. And eventually, the bolt snapped. Luckily, the nut on top turned the bolt out through the other end. Home Depot had a replacement.

So watch out for these 2 bolts when you remove the oil pan.

When tightening the oil pan, the gasket split at some bolts. (see picture) I tightened it very slowly to 6 ftlbs first and it started to split long before I reached that value. The required torque is 8 ftlbs and I tightened it eventually to that value. Anybody experienced this? Is it going to leak? I cleaned the bolts with WD40, did that make them too slick and thus did I overtorque them?

Thanks for your help.

Reinhard Kreutzer

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