I discovered RTV on a crossover gasket... not sure if it helped or not.

To be quite honest I haven't pulled it apart yet! It's not leaking profusely enough to be urgent (esp. since I drive it less frequently in winter weather) ... and I had a few other issues (windshield wiper odyssey, leaky oil sensor) to handle and wanted to do one at a time. But was just looking over it and remembering I need to do that soon. Think it'll be my birthday project next weekend, along with replacing a leaky PS hose.
Pretty sure in my case it's both the crossover gasket AND intake gasket ... I might as well replace both at once. I'll post an update as soon as I take it apart. Heck, maybe I'll even get ambitious and do it tonight or tomorrow before work.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Just the usual late update, if anyone's wondering ... finally got around to this in bits and pieces last week (I hate how holidays get in the way of garage time). The intake gasket and crossover gasket were both leaking, so hopefully the new ones will help. I haven't quite finished buttoning it up yet since first I broke a brand new glow plug (not even sure how I managed to do that) and today I realized I'm missing several fuel line clips, but the intake is back in place after much effort to reach all the bolts. The intake and crossover had some gunk and oil but not as much buildup as I expected. I might try pulling it again in spring to clean it but for now I put it back in place after wiping the surfaces clean and making sure there weren't any loose chunks.

The 1 and 2 intakes looked gunkiest. Others looked relatively clean.


The hole from the turbo to the crossover was pretty gross, as is the turbo end of the crossover itself. I'm worried if I try to clean the turbo pipe the gunk will fall into the turbo. Since I didn't notice any lack of performance or problems, should I just leave it be for now?

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

The mixing pipe comes off the turbo if you want to clean it separately. It's held by 3 bolts to the head which can be tricky to reach, and the EGR valve attaches to it. I've yet to see those big green o-rings looking like they should be replaced.

Sixto
87 300D

I cleaned and scraped a thick 1/4-1/2" (in some places) mess of the inner diameter of the crossover but really did not notice a difference. It didn't seem to cause a noticeable difference but I think I convinced myself that it idled more smoothly after...who knows?

I am more concerned if replacing the seals resolves you issue and I cannot wait to hear back once you have finished up. It really is a good feeling to knock a bothersome issue out like this! I am going to down my car for a week or so to knock out some projects...I am excited!

__________________
1987 300TDT - 195,000 (Original #14 head)
1993 190E 2.3 - 105,000
1981 300D - 250,000

I get excited about knocking out projects too ... hoping to get a few things sorted out over the next couple months so I can really enjoy it in spring (next up, leaking power steering hoses). Hopefully this gasket will help with the mess on the head ... I'm kind of worried whether I got all the bolts torqued down enough, as some I had to do with an allen key because I couldn't get an extension to fit for the torque wrench. It'd help if I hadn't lost my 1/4-inch wobble bit in the area in front of the air cleaner housing.
I'll probably finish this on Saturday ... I have to wait until my fuel-line clips come in at the dealer ... last thing I want to do after finishing this up is break a fuel line!

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Had one in the same location. I had to remove the intake to get to the glow plugs (just easier that way), and I saw I had an intake gasket that was split. I replaced the gasket and the leaks seems to have gone away. Apparently it must have been spraying out onto the bolts or something weird like that.

Not sure if yours is the same, but it's not too bad a job. I would do that before taking off the head.

Finished it all up ... it took me a week to find the clip that fell off into the engine compartment (it was tucked along the crossmember). I ended up cleaning the crossover pipe with carb cleaner, then hosed it out, then sprayed more carb cleaner and wiped with a rag on a stick. Not shiny clean but got the big mess out. I didn't clean the pipe out of the turbo, but may do that down the road. It started up fine and nothing shot out of the intake or crossover, so that's a good start. Will take it out for a drive tomorrow and hopefully nothing will leak out of the intake now.
Have to admit this job was a little more challenging than I expected ... lots of little bits and pieces and hard-to-reach bolts and clips (word of advice ... put the fuel line clips under the intake in place BEFORE putting the intake back on). Plus it was a busy couple weeks between work and holidays.

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

It appears that yoy did not take the fuel lines off to change the intake gasket?? It's good to know it can be done with the lines left in place. My gasket is leaking in the same place yours was.

I did leave them in place ... definitely was a bit tough getting the intake off around them and then back in but it was definitely doable. I'm not sure if other people usually remove the lines or not ... it might be a little safer to remove them, in terms of the possibility of damaging one if you slip somewhere.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Just a follow-up ... cleaned off the head yesterday and after a couple days of driving no sign of oil yet. So, assuming it stays that way, the gasket seems to have done the trick!
On to the next project ...

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Any tips on intake removal? I'm going to do this job this week. I do t have the two round seals. Just intake and crossover tube.

It is very straightforward...toughest part is remembering where clamps and clips go for the hard lines. I replaced all of mine with genuine benz stuff.

__________________
1987 300TDT - 195,000 (Original #14 head)
1993 190E 2.3 - 105,000
1981 300D - 250,000

Yep, it's a good idea to take pictures before you take it apart, to help put it back together. Expect to replace all the fuel line clips. As I think I mentioned somewhere in this thread, install the clips under the intake before you put the intake back on ... not easy to get fingers or tools under there. Getting to the allen bolts can be tough ... be patient. I just used several different allen wrenches, allen sockets, extensions, wobble bits, etc. When you put the new intake runner in, you kind of have to hold it in place as you lower the intake down.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Fuel line clips? The plastic clips I presume? Have a part number.

I like the fsm on intake removal. "remove intake". No real details lol

Intake runner, do you mean gasket? Also what about the plastic rail for the glow plug wires? Easy to pop off?