Aaaaargh....can I seal the oil level sender without dropping the oil pan?

[donbryce]

'86 560SL. The inner O-ring is shot, the sender can be wiggled and turned easily, with the clip on. PO or someone tried to seal it with RTV, not likely!
Stupid SL design would have you drop the subframe to drop the oil pan to replace a $.99 O-ring!
I do have the subframe out of the car, compressor is out, so it looks like the air pump/bracket and the compressor bracket needs to go so I can drop the pan.
However, I'm worried I'll end up making more oil leaks when it comes time to put the pan back on. It doesn't leak now.
Is there any way to seal that little bugger from the outside?

[sgaar]

Originally Posted by donbryce

'86 560SL. The inner O-ring is shot, the sender can be wiggled and turned easily, with the clip on. PO or someone tried to seal it with RTV, not likely!
Stupid SL design would have you drop the subframe to drop the oil pan to replace a $.99 O-ring!
I do have the subframe out of the car, compressor is out, so it looks like the air pump/bracket and the compressor bracket needs to go so I can drop the pan.
However, I'm worried I'll end up making more oil leaks when it comes time to put the pan back on. It doesn't leak now.
Is there any way to seal that little bugger from the outside?

Not according to the local MB master tech at the dealership. What you described is the way to go.....as he went to to say that it is a majot PITA to do it. We were talking last year when they had a tech session and I brought in the 107 and the subject came up.

[JimF]

I started using synth oil (4 months ago) and found the same leak. Since the oil (Lubro Moly 5W-40) was brand new, I certainly didn't want to dump it so I tried an 'experiment'.

Used some 'stuff' from my tech's shop called "gasket making material" made by Toyota (00295-01281). That was a few months ago and it still seems to have sealed the leak!

I used a lot of brake cleaner to clean the area and then dried with air. Used my 'finger' to lay a boarder around the case seal gasket at the oil-sender's output.

Seems to have slowed the leak if not fixed it!

[donbryce]

Well, I guess I'm stubborn, but after some thought, I'm going ahead with the pan drop. I'd hate to look back and regret not doing a 'correct' repair when I had the chance, I guess. I mean, the subframe is out, so how hard could the rest of this job be......?
HARD, and I'm not there yet! The smog pump/bracket was fairly easy. The lower water hose is out, so I could get at the smog pump, ditto the alternator/bracket.
That simple looking A/C compressor bracket is another story. I quit for the day when I discovered another allen head bolt hidden in behind the harmonic balancer. Tomorrow I'll have to turn the engine over by hand to align the cut-out to get a socket in there, somehow (so that's what that cut-out is for?).

Edit: Pic 1 shows the socket and extension to access this bolt.

I'll also want to remove the transmission cooling pipes, to clean them up, and just make access to the pan bolts that much easier. The front pan bolts, 4 of them, are tucked up behind the balancer....they look like a challenge.

Edit: bolts in pic 2

After several miserable hours with a parts brush and solvent, most of the area around the pan is now acceptably clean. That job, lying on the floor, was horrible too. I'm definately in a 'hate Mercedes' mood right now!

[JPMOSE]

My mechanic successfully stopped this leak without dropping the pan. However, it took two attempts. I really don't know the details of how he stopped it but he did it for free (probably because I'm an old customer). 13 months later and it still isn't leaking.

[donbryce]

Today was a good day, right up until the end. The oil pan came out without a hitch. I used a 5mm bit in a 1/4" socket with my 1/4" drive torque wrench set to the inch-lb equivalent of 11nm's, just to verify the 'feel' of these tiny bolts, for re-assembly. An allen key came in handy for the front bolts behind the balancer. First pic is the sender, from the outside. Once the pan is off, the clip pulls off and the sender is pulled inside, replace O-ring and stick it back in. Third picture shows the inside the pan view of this sender. I put some gasket sealer on it as well, not ever wanting to go here again!

Inspection of the gasket shows that the new one I bought isn't exactly the same, has a few extra cutouts, but I think it will work if I use some Permatex on both sides. Someone had previously laid a gob of black sealer on the rear part around the corners, trying to seal an oil leak I guess. I think I can do better.

The 'Oh Oh' refers to the piece of orangy-colored plastic found sitting in the pan sump, looks like a piece of one of the slide rails. I can see another piece, sitting sideways, between the block (or timing cover) wall and the outside of the chain, down by the crank gear on the passenger side. Both of the lower slide rails look intact, thank God, since replacing one of these means removing the front cover! I'm hoping it's the passenger side slide rail, since I think the tensioning rail is aluminum.

Anyone know if the piece in the picture is from one of the upper slide rails and not the tensioner? The upper ones are all plastic, right? Unfortunately, I'll have to hold the engine up with a jack with the pan temporarily in place to remove the supporting frame and pull the valve cover to investigate....I might want to be able to work that broken piece still lodged in there from below while the pan is off.

So, it looks like dropping the pan might pay off in more ways than one!

[rivermasternc]

Don:

May want to compare the plastic fragment to the pictures on the following thread:

I'm stumped with my 87 560SL
02-12-2008, 08:33 PM

FWIW

-Scott

[Philoprof]

Originally Posted by donbryce

The 'Oh Oh' refers to the piece of orangy-colored plastic found sitting in the pan sump, looks like a piece of one of the slide rails. I can see another piece, sitting sideways, between the block (or timing cover) wall and the outside of the chain, down by the crank gear on the passenger side.

This is exactly why I suggested that people replace their plastic rails with the Meyle rubber covered metal ones when the time comes.

[Gurunutkins]

HI Don
looks like the back part of the pin holder on the top rails and not the tensioner. I did a euro 350 last year where the passenger rail had snapped and all of the exhaust valves kissed the pistons. the snapped off part had caught in the timing cog and the chain jumped a tooth.

I replaced with plastic but have also talked to mayle like philoprof and will replace with the metal backed ones within the next year or so.

the pics of mine are in this post
Timing Chain Replacement on My 560SL

cheers
Barri