Bonjour,

I am the new proud owner of a 1985 Mercedes 300 SD turbodiesel. After driving about 1150 miles over two weeks, the car began marking his territory with prestone and sometimes (depending on the day) oil. I am having trouble locating the leak in my engine after a rough cleaning (I didnt use a pressure machine). It seems it is coming from the front end of the passenger side, probably next to the radiator; but that area *seems* pretty dry. I have no clue of where it could be after 3 hours of searching on google. By the way, it doesn't burn oil or anything; there is no harsh smell when driving. This only occur when the Mercs is parked.

Any ideas of what are the most common leaks on this model?

My guess is the oil pan gasket and some hoses that needs to be changed.

Thanks.

Oil Cooler. My condolences.

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Bob
'82 300D Petrol B-G Metallic

More likely to be the cooler hoses than the cooler itself. You need to get it clean so you can see what's going on.

I doubt the cooler itself is ripped. My hoses seems to be OEM and never replaced.... My oil temp isnt going crazy either - she is in fact always stable. And why " my condolences "? is that part really expensive to replace?

Thanks for the quick answers !

The oil coolers themselves are expensive. The cooler lines are reasonably priced, but a real PITA to get to.

This spring I had a leak at my lower oil cooler fitting. The hose was fine, but the sealing surface on the cooler itself was dented and pitted. Normally this would have required a new $350 cooler, but I tried the "screwed nipple" repair technique (search for it), and it worked. No leaks since end of June. The "screwed nipple" is a $5 dealer part. That and $20 at the machine shop fixed my leak.

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Bob
'82 300D Petrol B-G Metallic

Actually, a new cooler is closer to $500. I'm going to need to replace mine next time I need to do the hoses because the nipple is messed up.

Craig - you sound like an ideal candidate for the screwed nipple.

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Bob
'82 300D Petrol B-G Metallic

I've thought about it, but I don't want to add any more mechanical connections to the oil system, so I'll probably just replace the silly thing.

Psh. 90min I had mine done, including a new motor mount. $120 appx with the mount and lines.

Front main is more involved.

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I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]