Put this question on the SL Forum as well.
I have an 87 560SL and was checking oil and noticed about 1/2 quart low.
Don't know why I smelled the dipstick, but it smells like Gas......any thoughts on what causes that? Is it normal?
Car runs great - just don't want to be harming it.

When you first start the car, it is cold so it runs rich to compensate, and not all the gas is vaporized so some ends up in the oil. Another way to put it is if you make a lot of short trips then you will have more gas in your oil. If you really want to know how much is in there you can get your oil analyzed by Blackstone or other labs. When I had mine done I had about 1% gas and I do make a lot of short trips. As I recall they said the limit for concern is 1.5% so I was OK. And that was after about 9000 miles. Although I have an engine that appears to burn NO oil.

Mike

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

Also be aware the cold start valve often gumms up and will drip a little bit . this causes dilution of the oil .

best bet is to do a _HOT_ oil & filter change then run it and see if there's actually an oil dilution problem or not ~ these cars need to be taken out and RUN , not just puttered down to the store once a month...

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better