W123/OM617 Oil Dipstick Installation

[spinsession]

The car is an 85 300TD that I've had torn apart in my garage for several years (long, long story). I finally got around to buttoning it all back up and I went to check the oil and...DOH! I forgot to install the dipstick tube!

Clearly, I am a dipstick but I'll digress on that. Is it possible to install the dipstick tube with the engine in the car (has to be, right???)? The reason I ask is because with all of the bends in the tube I can't seem to snake it through any of the gaps between engine components. In fact, I'm not entirely even sure where it's supposed to go. I've googled several pictures and it appears to sit behind the fuel filter near the cruise control module. After pondering that position a little bit last night, I finally unbolted the fuel filter and tipped it out of the way. That move appears to give me enough room to fit the tube down and in. At that point I quickly realized that it's a VERY tight fit into the oil pan, so now I want to double and triple check that I position it correctly prior to moving forward.

Here are my questions:

Does anyone have pictures of a properly installed oil dipstick tube?
If no pictures, can anyone elaborate on which way the bends in the tube should face?
Are there any tools/tricks for pounding(?) this dipstick tube into place w/o damaging it?
Lastly, I'm wondering if I'm forgetting anything. Are there any o-rings or gaskets that need to go in there first? It's just a tight metal-to-metal fit, correct?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for the help!

[greazzer]

I currently have an OM617.912 NA engine. I believe the dipsticks are same location in the turbo vs. non-turbo engine. Mine was actually just sitting in the hole by the grace of gravity. If you pulled on the dipstick, the whole deal came with it, e.g., the tube. There was no snugness as at. I am thinking it was simply "broken" and just hanging out. My fix was pretty primitive. I removed the lower oil pan since I had a leaking gasket. I did my removal of pan, and let it sit overnight to get all the oil to drip out. Then, I cleaned and cleaned that hole and used some JB Weld, being careful not to have any drips, et cet. Let that sit overnight to cure, then reinstalled the lower oil pan. I killed 3 birds with one stone: My dipstick no longer just rattled and floated around; I replaced my leaky lower oil pan; and, I changed my oil. My dipstick is currently holding tight and no leaks

[charmalu]

There is a special tool to knock the tube back into the pan. It is listed here on the forum under special MB tools. It is pricy for a once in a life time use.

Pelican Parts.com - Dipstick Tube Driver


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Charlie