I am a new member to your Forum. Your Forum is very professional and very interesting.
I have an inquiry for the experts on this site.
I just bought a 1997 E320 with 60K on the odometer , The pervious owner is a friend that works overseas and hardly uses the car. A month later after I Bought the car, I noticed small oil Traces in the front lower part of the engine around the pulley of the crank shaft. It seems like the Crank Shaft front seal is gone. I wanted to take it back to the MB service station when time permits.
Any idea how that would have happened?
Is changing this Crank shaft front seal is a big job that requires to take the engine to bits?
Any rough idea about the cost $$$ for changing the seal at the dealer?

Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

MBGeorge

1997 E320

You answered your own question. Inactivity is one of the worst things that ever happened to a car. Seals dry out.

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Mike Murrell
1991 300-SEL - Model 126
M103 - SOHC
"Fräulein"

I recently had my 88300CE serviced at the 82,500 mi. interval. Dealer svc mgr. told me about the seal starting to weep. Told me to keep an eye on it and if it got worse before the 90k interval to let him know. Otherwise it'll probably be done then, or later if not getting worse.

Mechanically, he said it's not a terribly big job. Not a teardown or anything. My guess would be maybe 4-6 hours at shop rates plus parts. Here the MB dealer rate is 80/85 per hr. My guess would be total cost by dealer to be in the 350 to 500 range. Maybe a little more

Some of the techs here would know better.

I did my V12's front main seal. It's technically not that difficult a job especially for an experienced mechanic with the right tools. It took me a long time being an inexperienced mechanic without the factory seal installation and ring gear holding tools. There is no "tear down" involved. For my V12, actually very little disassembly is required, but I pulled out the radiator to give me more room to work at the front of the engine.

There is nothing special about a front main seal leak versus any other oil leak. If it's not that big a leak, you can leave it and address it whenever you feel like it. Just check your oil level regularly and make sure it is filled appropriately. This leak can get messy, though, if oil gets on the pulley and gets slung about the engine compartment.

I don't know about cost. Simply call the dealer and ask for a ballpark figure. An independent would be cheaper.

Brett

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1997 S600 sedan

Make sure that is not the timing cover. This engine has that problem.
Ed