Hi-

Since I've have my car, the front left inside fender has been oil-covered. At night at stop lights, I can see oil mist floating in front of my headlights.

In an effort to insure that the new hood pad I put in won't be disintegrated by oil, I've been trying to find the source.

A thread on here, Throwing oil ... how much is too much? indicated that perhaps the P/S pump seals could be a problem.

I took off the P/S pump reservoir cover last night, and lo and behold, there's NO GASKET there! Just metal on metal! Directly below the P/S pump, the oil cooler lines are covered in oil, and some wiring loom that runs by the lid is covered in oil.

I'm going to replace the gasket. Should I also buy a P/S seal renewal kit, or no?

How come none of my mechanics ever noticed this? I know checking the P/S fluid is on the oil change checklist that my guy uses. Oh well.

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Aaron
'84 300D 267,000 - Running WVO - Rice Bran Oil - Mmmmmm, fishy...
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Probably the only way to tell is to clean it real well and re-check. I wouldn't think the cover gasket for the power steering would cause this problem since this is a reservior with no pressure. A line below it perhaps?

I would highly suspect an oil cooler line though. Investigate this ASAP! If an oil cooler line blows, you could have a ruined engine in a matter of minutes. Not something you wan't to put off till later!

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Sam

84 300SD 350K+ miles ( Blue Belle )

[QUOTE=MonsieurBon]Hi-

Since I've have my car, the front left inside fender has been oil-covered. At night at stop lights, I can see oil mist floating in front of my headlights.QUOTE]

...you should be able to tell whether this is a p/s leak or the oil cooler line line leak. Can also turn on the engine and watch (if your p/s fluid is so old that it is black!). Could also be leak from the line that brings oil to the injection pump, as it comes off the engine at a location just below the p/s pump. As regards to replacing the gasket on the p/s reservoir, even if that isn't the source of the leak, you should replace it. It only costs about $1 and "there must be SOME reason they put it there." Another possibility is the a/c, if you have it charged.

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Der Panzermann und Fraulein Fahrvergnuegen

1991 420SEL 201K "The Big Blue One"
1985 300DT 205K chassis/285K engine nee California emissions "Goldbug"
1983 300TDT 255K "The Womble"
1983 300 DT 214K "Sea Sprite"-Rear-ended a truck
1983 300SD 285K "The Donor" Gave his life so that others can live
1980 500SL Euro 105K "Der Panzer"

without a gasket the ps reservoir will leak as the fluid sloshes around with movement of the car. thats why it's there. that and to keep airborne crap from getting in

I replaced the gasket and cleaned the snot out of that whole area. We'll see how it goes. I also got the rest of the p/s pump seals, including the front one, in case they need to be replaced.

The p/s pump fluid definitely look black.

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Aaron
'84 300D 267,000 - Running WVO - Rice Bran Oil - Mmmmmm, fishy...
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That's typical of a leaking front crankshaft seal. The balancer slings oil around the front of the engine compartment.

p/s fluid is not red unless you are using atf in it. it will be either clear(very rarely) brown, or black(very dirty). put a little die in it and clean everything really well.

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

My P/S fluid is clear (valvoline synthetic) the old stuff was red but I flushed that out a long while ago. As for gaskets, there isn't one between the lid and resevoir, it just presses onto it, there's no pressure in there, and correctly filled the fluid is too far down from the top to "slosh" out. The resevoir is just that, the fluid just sits in there, the real stuff happens down inside the pump when it gets pressurized. I've never seen a drop leak from either of our car's P/S caps, and neither have a gasket.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
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'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

i didnt think there was a gasket, but i also never paid attention.im still workin on getting mine back to clear. its BRIGHT green right now. (i had a leak so i used dye). i think when i flush it again at work i might add some powersteering flush. im just afraid to cause new leaks.

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

Look at the back of the power steering pump pulley. If the front seal of the
P/S is leaking,you should see some brown oil wetting the area and eventually being slung out all over the hood pad,washer fluid reservoir and dripping down onto the oil cooler lines and the A/C compressor. The rebuild kit is cheap and procedures for the rebuild are described in this forum. I concur that the P/S reservoir gasket is not the likely source of your oily mist.
Mine has no gasket and does not leak out the top.

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Gwizzer
'82 300D

There shoud be a gasket in the reservoir lid. Sometimes it's there, but just looks like part of the lid. If you don't think that the power steering fluid can "slosh" out, try driving around the block with the lid removed. You might change your mind. How do you think that fluid is returned to the reservoir if it's not under pressure? (Which is not to say that the reservoir is "pressurized," but the return fluid line certainly is.)

http://catalog.eautopartscatalog.com/mercedesshop/sophio/wizard.jsp?partner=mercedesshop&clientid=catalog.mercedesshop&baseurl=http://catalog.peachparts.com/&cookieid=1PY1E2LZD1S71EQ2KV&year=1982&make=MB&model=300-DT-001&category=M&part=P%2FS+Reservoir+Gasket

the return line is under very little pressure. every wonder why the pressure line is crimpped and the return is hose clamped?

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

Agreed. But it is enough make waves in the reservoir, at least in my car. I took the lid off one time with the engine running and had p/s fluid all over the place. But that might have been before I installed the new governor idle pin and smoothed out that rough idle.

My PS pump was missing the gasket also - I used the extra large O-ring included with my Oil Filter - one was used on the oil filter housing - the other was larger and didn't fit anything so I cut it to size and pressed it into the lid of the PS pump. Works fine and was free.

John

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John Hughes, was in Landstuhl, Germany but currently in San Antonio, TX


1978 280CE Astral Silver now 59,xxx miles and counting "Silber-Kugel"
1986 300E Black Pearl Metallic 143,xxx miles 5-spd daily driver w/ blk leather "Schwarz-Schönheit"
1989 190E 2.6 (euro) 5-spd Desert Taupe 112,xxx kms Had to leave behind in Germany!!! "Helga"
1983 300D Pastel Beige now 312,xxx + miles SOLD

OBK#24

The gasket seemed to be made out of some hard asbestos-like material. Definitely not rubber.

Hmmm.. I'm getting my valves adjusted next week, and they're gonna replace the valve cover gasket. It leaks enough for there to always be fresh oil around it. I bet the engine fan blows on it, where it's evaporating off of all of the hot surfaces, and it just comes to rest on everything.

The engine cleaning really cleared things up, though. After the valve cover gasket is replaced, I'm gonna clean it a little better, and with a flashlight, so I can see the super-grimy and deep spots.

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Aaron
'84 300D 267,000 - Running WVO - Rice Bran Oil - Mmmmmm, fishy...
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