Time to get another car.:)

Finding a good 603 parts car is about as easy as finding those oil leaks.

"Finding a good 603 parts car is about as easy as finding those oil leaks."

Sometimes things arnt easy:)

Problem was not what you thought buying it... it was why you didn't think to do with it like a jeep is ment to be LOL.

My 97TJ was greatly loved and very well used as a Jeep should be so it earned its leaks. Actually all that leaked was a bunged up drain plug from a Rock on the Rubicon. Oh..... and that 3" hole in the Transfercase. That thing ran 50 miles with that open gash no oil in the Tcase. Might still have run more but I replaced it with an Atlas II. Now it's running well totaly redone, repainted, and even more rock ready than before. A good friend of mine bought it from me. BTW.... he owns a custom hydraulic steer etc. business so if anyone needs something in they way of hydraulics.... let me know and Ill get him in contact with you.

Sorry for the OT

Mine is just a beater. I use it to carry stuff, drive in the snow when I don't want to use a Benz, and to go skiing. It's functional, but I actually hate to drive it. It mostly just sits around, leaks on my driveway, and pisses off everyone on my street by being ugly.:mad:

Do you use synthetic oil? I put Mobil 1 in my truck and now it leaks around the front main seal. Not a drop before. I'm going back to dino oil for all my vehicles. Hope this doesn't start another oil thread.

It''s always had a minor oil leak or two but the synthetic did make it worse. I don't want to go back to dino because at 6500 mile oil changes on Truck & SUV it is cheaper and more convenient than dino. I was hoping that by pulling the engine and resealing everything, the synthetic would be able to keep it from leaking again since its nature to preserve rubber seals.

The reason I want to fix the leaks is because I have many friends where I need to park in there driveway. These are upper class neighborhoods and I don't want to be the first to leave big black spots in their driveways. Dark black oil spots can be rather embarrasing not to mention oil leaks are one of my biggest pet-peeves next to rust. If my car had no oil leaks and I can get the rust taken care of, I'll be one happy camper. Hopefully a friend of mine will do the welding and painting while I am going through the engine.

Thanks
David

The oil leaks will coat the underside of your car and help prevent rust! :D

Mike

Just remember...oil leaks started for a reason and if that reason is not corrected they will return.

Gaskets just don't give up the ghost after their service interval (usually).

Often they got disturbed, some metal warped, worked loose, etc.

Get out the straight edge and check surfaces as you are putting things back together if you want to garuntee a good seal. Anyone that can build a aircooled VW engine to not leak a drop of oil can make most any car not leak oil :)

Switiching from a life of dyno oil to a life of syntheic can also bring about some leaking. My 300SD opened up a few new ones when I ran synth. and now that I am back on dino my only issue is the IP gasket (not that hard to change..luckily).

The 240D is the first diesel benz I have ever seen with a dry oil pan exterior, subframe, the whole enchilada. Pretty amazing :)

tell these friends to break-down and keep cardboard boxes for you?

if theyre upper class, tell them to buy you a frikkin drip pan:)

if that doesnt work, do they have a high pressure washer? ours cleans up the oil spots well. :)

Or just get the underbody panels to catch everything and save yourself the hassle of pulling the engine...

...that is until you try to change the oil and have to drop the pans :D

you could get a bumper sticker that says:

"he's not leaking oil; hes marking his spot!":D

go back to dino
 

you arent saving that much.

tom w

I don't know that switching back would help THAT much. I used to have the underbody pans on but they don't stop the oil from hitting the ground, they just change where the drops fall.

I planned on using a straight-edge when reassembling everything. I also would like to do this for the educational factor. This is my second Benz and I've never had one of the engine very torn apart. I've been inside the IP on the SDL and I had the VC off my old 116 for a valve adjustment. I have had my brother's 190D down pretty far though, though the head was still on. What about the gaskets that I'll need? Do I pretty much have them all listed? Is there a gasket for the IP when it comes off? All the covers on it leaks too BTW.

Thanks
David

Unfortunately oil leaks are a genetic rite of passage for ALL Mercedes diesel engines. I dont know why they leak so much, old gasket technology I guess. But dont let it frustrate you too much. Just work on a few leaks at a time and before you know it, they will all be gone.