Major Oil leak / loss after oil change
 

Just purchased an '85 300 D Turbo and completed what I thought was a routine oil change. I let the car drain for quite some time. Last night, I put the oil back in. When I started the vehicle this morning it fired right up and sounded fine. I walked inside for 2 to 3 minutes, came back out and looked under the car only to see quite a bit of oil on the garage floor! I immediately shut the car off. From what I could tell, it was coming from the rear part of the engine.

Prior to this oil change, the oil did not even drip on the carport. Any ideas on what may have happened? I have changed the cannister filters on 240's, 300 D and SD at least 100 times with no problems.

Oil filter can
 

Refill with oil and check seal on filter can. Did you use a new seal and oil the new seal?

athensbenz,

Other than the O-Ring at the cap on the filter housing, there may be a few other items that may have been disturbed that can leak if you had a hard time getting the cannister top off and back on. Most of this should be pretty obvious though, if you wipe down the area of the leak. I have just had the mechanical joint from the block to the cannister housing fail on my 240D, which resulted in a serious leak at the rear of the engine. But it was also visibly traceable. Hope this helps, Jim

I used a new seal. I am going to open the filter cannister back up this evening, make sure it is oiled and tighten it back down correctly. I hope that is all it is!

One more question... If it was only the seal on the cannister would it be leaking elsewhere?

athensbenz:

Are you sure you took the old seal out? I inadvertently left the old ring seal in my car, was able to bolt the lid back on. Started her up and oil went everywhere. I resolved not to work on the car without my glasses on after that!

If the o-ring on the oil filter cannister lid is a loose fit, it is really easy for that o-ring to fall off and into the filter canister when you are trying to get the lid past all of the vacuum hoses and the heater hose. Unless you look carefully just before you seat the lid, you'll never know it's out of place until it is too late.

I've never had a problem with the o-rings that come with the MANN or HENGST filters but the seal that comes with the WIX filter is the wrong size to fit tight on the cannister lid and stay in place while you monkey around.

I will not know for sure until this evening (after 7PM). I am hoping this is the only thing. Although I will feel really stupid if that is what happened (o-ring gasket on filter cannister not seated properly), better to feel stupid than have some other major issue to deal with. I let everyone know what I find!

Not stupid, it's an easy mistake to make
 

I have two 123s that I've owned for over a year. They both receive religious 3000 mile oil changes (ie 10+ oil changes between two vehicles in the last 18 months) and I dropped that o-ring into the cannister during my most recent oil change.

It's waay too easy to do.

The bad thing for me was, it was the first time I'd tried a 'topside' oil change and I was doing it all doing outside. In the brief seconds between cranking up, confirming oil pressure and getting out of the car to discover an absolute Niagra of oil exiting the housing . By the time I jammed home the shut-down lever, I had a oil spill the size of a trash can lid on my nice clean freshly power washed driveway! Jeez.

i did this when i changed to mobile delvac. if it hadnt been for my friend tiffany watching me work on it i would have lost more than the 3 quarts all over the car port. all lost because of the stupid o-ring.

Don't feel bad. Look what I did:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/101242-almost-lost-my-engine-learn-my-stupid-mistake.html

Scott

Also make sure you didn't trap something (like a vacuum hose) under the lid. If you did, that needs attention too.

I removed the cannister lid this evening and found the problem. The o-ring was the culprit. It was not tightened properly. I replaced it and tightened everything back and all seems to be well! Whew! I was sweating that one! Thanks for all the help and pointers.

I have taken to "gluing" the O-ring in place with high temperature, synthetic grease. I use an Assembly Grease product from Red Line Oils, or a high temperature synthetic grease for braking components. I apply it a little thicker than a typical coating so the O-Ring is partly submerged in the stuff. It is very effective in holding the O-ring while I manipulate the cap and stem to get the cap back on the housing. Hope this helps, Jim

Jim...I'll keep this in mind for the next oil change. It is good to be back behind the wheel of a Benz diesel. I had forgotten how much I missed them. !