oil leaking from head? 1987 603 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

odie · #1 12-08-2010, 03:17 PM

Got back to messing with my wagon again tryin to figure out the massive oil burning

started up the car and oil starts coming out the tail pipe so plenty of oil is getting into the exhaust system...and it's more than dripping.

Anyway my hope was a blown turbo oil seal but it appears oil is seeping out before the turbo from between the exhast manifold and head on the last cylinder. I can see it flowing out from what seems to be the last exhaust port and dripping on the ground while the engine is running.

I would think that the mating surface would be pretty tight and any oil would be contained inside the manifold and pushed out the tailpipe but oil is coming out from the side of the head or somewhere close by and well as a sizeable amount coming out the tail pipe.

BTW it's a #14 head. The car suddenly started burning tons of oil, like about 2-3 quarts per mile.

guessing a cracked or failed head

A turbo would be easy to replace but I'll have to decide how much hassle the car is worth to pull the head and find a replacement.

barry123400 · #2 12-08-2010, 03:48 PM

More likely the head gasket is no longer sealing.

babymog · #3 12-08-2010, 03:54 PM

Could be the head gasket, or a broken piston ring. Does it idle evenly/smoothly? Has it been run on alternate fuels? A compression test on that cylinder might be the next step.

Seems odd I know, but usually oil around the exhaust port/manifold is evidence of a bad ring. If the head gasket is bad, you should be able to see coming out beneath the manifold, not around it.

odie · #4 12-08-2010, 04:22 PM

it sorta idles smoothly, considering the amount of oil it's puking out. It does not want to rev up much. It will move on it's own but just going from the curb into the driveway it puked a bunch of oil out the tail pipe.

there is a lot of oil everywhere so it's hard to see the exact origin. But it's leaking externally out the side somewhere near the rear of the head and internally out through the exhaust system.

babymog · #5 12-08-2010, 06:29 PM

Doesn't sound good. Seems like regardless of whether it is a head or rings, the head will have to come off. If the oil is going into the cylinder(s), you now risk hydrolocking that cylinder and doing more damage. If more than one cylinder, runaway is possible.

odie · #6 12-09-2010, 11:55 AM

yeah, not looking forward to a head removal...especially with all that oil all over the place. I will be doing a lot of de-greaser and engine washing before I even attempt to did into it beyond poking around with a flashlight.

barry123400 · #7 12-09-2010, 12:12 PM

Pull the first cylnders injector or glow plug. Oil spraying out when cranking? It will spray out if you are passing the kind of oil you mention out. Thats if the gasket is breached there.

This is the common issue on 603s where the oil passage is breeched between the number one cylinder and the pressure feed for the head. Easy test. Whenever possible one should localise the problem before tearing anything down when possible.

vstech · #8 12-09-2010, 12:19 PM

pull the turbo crossover and see if oil is spraying in via the turbo or not.

babymog · #9 12-09-2010, 12:43 PM

If there's that much oil before the turbo, it is probably immersed as is the trap-cat, and the trap-cat won't pass much liquid so it won't rev easily.

Barry's suggestion to pull the injector or GP is a good one, pull the #6 and see what comes out as you crank with the stop lever tied down.

Either way, if oil comes out you need to pull the head, whether a ring or head gasket failure. I don't believe that a failed valve seal will pass this much oil but if someone knows differently it would be good to know.

odie · #10 12-09-2010, 02:46 PM

It went south real fast last month. in the matter of a few miles went from nothing to massive smoke cloud out the tailpipe. Was hopin for a blown turbo oil seal suckin & burning all the oil but now seeing oil leaking outside the rear head somewhere I don't know...

could be turbo pulling oil & pushing it thru the intake side of the turbo and burning it that way...

or it's just going out the exhaut side of the turbo....well if that was the case I guess i would expect to see just oil leaking out the tailpipe and not much smoke. But the smoke was very, very thick leading me to believe it's being burned thru inside the combustion chamber...but i'm also getting liquid oil out the tail-pipe...

maybe oil is blowing out both side of the turbo oil seals? strange to see both seals blow at once.

well, pull GPs and compression check first i guess....then pull turbo....then pull head?????

charmalu · #11 01-13-2011, 10:39 PM

Any updates? Easy fix?

Charlie