So....Where is all this oil comming from? I'm (hopefully soon) going to clean the engine bay in preparation for working on this (new to me) car. This thing has leaks on its leaks....The hood pad was removed and I'm thinking it was prolly saturated with oil...Its as if five gallons of motor oil where put in and the motor was run with out any gaskets...Either that or the valve cover was removed right befor a road trip...

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Rob M
Norwich, VT USA
1980 240D Euro delivery 4 speed manual silver/blue
~160K miles

Valve cover gasket?

Kevin

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'85 300SD

That is some long time baked on oil... but the good news is that you have a new water pump.....
The cheapest way to do this at home ... since this is going to take more than one wash.... is to get Gunk in the one gallon can of concentrate.... and mix about three gallons of kerosene with it.... spray it on and leave it overnight, then wash it off the next day... and be sure it is dry before applying the next coat of Gunk....
If you have access to hot water all the better...
But I don't clean engine compartments at car washes....
Had to take the distributor cap off and dry it too many times..

BUT the Cautionary Warning for Diesels... is you do not want to spray any water on the Injection pump when the engine is warm... so my above suggestions avoid this possibility... the pump is too tight physically to deal with temperature shocks...

Agreed on the advice given. my current scheme is to pre soak the krap with degreaser and then hose/pressure wash it with a hose from my hot water heater. I'll likely wait fro Spring as I'd like to do this on a plastic sheet containment on my grass to catch the gravey.

Another thought was to host a GTG at my place....rent a steam cleaner of some sort and put the shout out to locals. I'm not keen on damaging altering the injection pump so I'll prolly treat that a little more gently (a smaller hammer)

thanks....How can you tell its a new water pump? Begs the question as to under what conditions the old one failed....

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Rob M
Norwich, VT USA
1980 240D Euro delivery 4 speed manual silver/blue
~160K miles

The water pump is clean..... and this is a long time leak.... unless your PO was like RLeo and would take the pump off and clean it just on principle... He is the neat freak in the family by his own admission...

Likewise, I've got a soaking oil leak on one of my rear CV axles near the diff housing. First I'll degrease the entire area, thoroughly, before attempting to locate the source.

My guess is that it is the front crankshaft seal. My 300D had a leak similar to yours and that was it's cause. Hope this helps.

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1983 300D 205k
1999 C230 Kompressor 85k (sold)

My guess ( and more optimistic easier fix ) is the valve covers... seems thick and even in its distribution...

The front of the engine on my 85 300SD looked much worse than yours an it cleaned up very nicely with multiple applications of degreaser and water. Next time though, I would do exactly as you said, I would attach a hose to the drain spigot on my water heater and use hot water.

Once you have the engine clean, you will probably find the leaks are not as bad as you think. That is 20 years worth of sludge buildup.

When I did mine, I needed a soft wire brush came to stir up the really thick layers of sludge on top of the oil pan flange and on the undercarriage. Next time I would scrape off the thickest deposits before I started in with the Gunk. If you haven't done so yet, pick up a box of disposable vinyl gloves. A pair of sacrificial coveralls (Tyvek maybe?) would not hurt either.

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1985 300SD, 203,000 miles, dark blue

Lil Sarah says: "Poor old Grandma Blue Car...She's sad."

Why are you posting pictures of my engine! ;0

Seriously though this looks exactly like mine did a few weeks ago. Cept my waterpump was covered with it as well.

I'd bet money on the valve cover gasket leaking. Unless you've also got alot of oil around the vent tube to the aircleaner as well. Even then it could still be the valve cover.

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'84 300CD Turbo 132k (Anthracite Grey) - WVO - My daily driver - Recently named coo-coo-coupe by my daughter.
'84 300D Turbo 240k (Anthracite Grey) - Garage Queen
'83 300D Turbo 220k (Orient Red) - WVO - Wifes daily driver

I'm not a certified mechanic, but I did stay at a HolidayInn Express last night.

The oil leaks ive expericed have all been from the valve cover gasket and the oil cooler lines. The most dramtic oil leak ever was from the turbo, it seemed as if my engine was gushing oil.

let me know when you rent the steam cleaner, I'll be up. steve 83sd