Oil leak on 1980 240 D

In the past month that I've owned my 240 D, a slight oil leak around the valve cover has become a fairly severe leak. I've purchased a new gasket from my local dealer, and I've read my Haynes manual, but before I start removing anything, I'd like to know if this is as straight forward a job as it appears. Does anyone have any suggestions about potential problems?

Also, I plan to check and adjust my valves while the cover is off. Again, I've adjusted valves plenty of times, but not on either diesels or Mercedes. Is there anything I should be aware of before I start?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Ken Mitchell
Hammond, LA

Ken,

The valve cover is indeed as straight forward to replace the gasket as it looks. Put the new gasket on the cover before carefully lowering the cover in place.

The valve adjustment is straight forward except that it is very difficult to do without a special set of curved wrenches available from many sources including your dealer (probably the most expensive source) and I would expect that mercedesshop parts shop has them for a reasonable price. I've had my set sense long before I found mercedesshop. The job can be done without these wrenches, but it's a real hassle.

Good luck,

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Larry Bible
'84 Euro 240D, 516K miles
'88 300E 5 Speed
'81 300D Daughter's Car
Over 800,000 miles in
Mercedes automobiles