i am a proud owner of a 92 500e i love driving this car i hope to keep it a long time wouldn't mind being buried in it with rolling stones blasting and my seat warmer on hi!
car has 160k miles and is my daily driver i have logged 85k since i bought it 5 yrs ago. i service it regularly with a reputable benz mechanic.
i have 2 problems

1 about a month ago i developed a low pitched rattle/hum heard and felt coming from engine area only while car is in motion with lite application of power with tach at 3000 to 3400 rpm. simultaneously, i noticed a smell of burning oil coming from engine bay after driving the car and a small pool of oil, dime to half dollar size, under the engine on drivers side in morning after driving the car. i'm guessing it's the drivers side valve cover gasket leaking???
if so, i'd consider tackling the repair myself. how long does it take? i'd need detailed instructions and part numbers for all parts so i could order them from PARTSSHOP.

2 about 2 months ago i noticed that the engine will not rev past 4k rpm in 2nd gear until engine is pretty warm. this is taking longer and longer to reach the warm up temp as ambient temps are now in the 20-40 degree range. this same thing happened to me 2 years ago. my mechanic told me that he found a sensor that is mounted to the transmission case to be damaged as if by road derbis. he said this sensor is designed to protect the transmission and will not allow aggressive driving until it senses tha t the transmission fluid has warmed up. he said the sensor was "just hanging on". he repaired it with some epoxy and the problem vanished until just recently. Where is the sensor, can i replace it easily, and what is it called and what is the part number. ?

thank you for your help.