1988 300E Oil leak plz help

[xjrx05]

There's an oil on my car and i was wondering the ways to find an oil leak and how to fix it. Thanks.

[sixto]

If it's not obvious where the leak is coming from, clean the engine and start from scratch. The typical leak points of your engine are the gasket between the upper timing chain cover and the corner of the block and lower timing chain cover (not too difficult to fix) and the rear end of the head gasket (requires pulling the head).

Sixto
87 300SDL

[xjrx05]

hmm ill try cleaning it but im a complete noob when it comes to cars, is der anywhere where i can learn each part of the car? like a manual or an internet page? lmk, im quite good at figuring out things, i jsut wanna learn about my car. thanks

[deanyel]

How much do you want to spend - there's the Haynes 124 repair manual, the E-class bible, and the 124 service CD - all 3 of which would be helpful in some way.

[samiam4]

Try finding a mild citric acid cleaner.

Heck, just go down to the carwash with $5. Use the white wall cleaner on the engine and spray the underside well. You can remove the lower shroud under the engine easily and leave it at home.
Then blast it with the soapy cleaning high pressure spray until you get rid of the oil.

Go home and jackup the car- support the car properly with jackstands. Then look while it is running for oil leaks.

Generally on a M103 engine:
front timing upper cover
valve cover gasket
Head gasket
Rear crankshaft seal
Transmission front pump seal
Front crankshaft seal

Your probably looking at 1-2 of these problems. Some like the timing cover are regular service items-maybe every 60,000 miles or so.
I added the transmission b/c this does happen with age. If the fluid is redish in color coming from the bellhousing between the engine and transmission- that would be an indication of a front seal
Michael

[Saint]

Good stuff samiam. Just bookmarked this page as my ride is leaking just a tad too.

[lkchris]

Originally Posted by samiam4

Generally on a M103 engine:
front timing upper cover
valve cover gasket
Head gasket
Rear crankshaft seal
Transmission front pump seal
Front crankshaft seal

I really suspect the guy has no idea what any of these are.

Best bet for him is a continuing education class in auto mechanics.

You just can't write to an Internet list and say "my car leaks" and expect someone to have an answer for you. That's fantasy born of ignorance.

[william.wood]

could be the rear main seal leaking like on my 1988 420SEL