This evening I was helping W Hunter retrieve a 190D (W201) from a customer that had broken the alternator pulley and had popped off the serpentine belt. The trip was about 50 miles from home. I picked up W Hunter on the way and my 240D worked really great (kiss of death to ever say that about a car) all the way to our destination. W Hunter patched up the 190D and we were returning to his place so he could finish the repair and do other things with that car.

About 4 blocks from his house I noticed the 240D oil pressure gauge dipping below 3 and then it dropped to ZERO!!! I turned off the engine and coasted (manual 4 speed) about 2 blocks. I turned on the engine and had a little oil pressure and got up to speed and turned it off again... coasting to a stop in front of his house. (I always watch the oil gauge!)

We opened the hood and everything in the entire engine compartment is covered in black engine oil. We pulled the dip stick and there was nothing on it. We put in 2 quarts... still nothing on the dip stick. We put in 4 more quarts and it was now over filled enough to put the car in his garage.

The diagnosis is that there was a small pin hole leak of one of the oil cooler lines (original equipment on the 32 yr old car) that was spraying on the power steering pump pulley. This allowed the oil to be equally distributed all over the place! (see the pictures) The whole engine compartment is slimed! The underbody probably won't need any rust protection for a while either! The pin hole leak seemed to be from when a power steering belt had been rubbing against the oil pressure line. (don't know when that happened) We could see the line where the belt or something in that direct line had been rubbing previously on the oil line.

We estimated that the leak probably had been going on for at least 20 minutes / miles. And that it would only register zero on the oil pressure gauge when only about 2 quarts of oil were left in the sump. W Hunter said that the engine is OK because it ran OK after we filled it and that I had not run it for long after discovering the issue. He will install new oil cooler lines in the next day or so.

I needed an oil and filter change... but this was just ridiculous! I had just power washed the engine bay for a potential customer last Saturday... Darn!

Whew! Caught that just in time... Lucky!!!

Hood picture, then engine bay. The next post will show where the pin hole leak is.

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Pete Williams, President emeritus - MBCA-International Stars (Eastern Mich.) Now Wi. & Az.
1985 300D Manual 4 speed Green Hen's tooth
1979 MGB triple black Az car nice
1969 back 1/2 of MGB (Az home built trailer)
1991 Volvo 245 Wagon Nice AZ Restored Gold Brick
1983 Jeep CJ7 37,600 Miles Summer use only