HELP! Smell of oil in cabin of 300E

[Esquire]

Greetings,

On some occasions, after coming off the highway, and stopping at a light - I have had the smell of oil in the cabin. This was not the smel of oil - burned through an engine - but rather the smell of oil that had dripped on something hot - i.e., exhaust manifold.

It does not happen on ANY regular intervals - or circumstance, except that I will smell it once or twice during a drive - usually after having driven the car - after a cold (first) start - for about 15 minutes. **granted my climate control is on -- bringing me heat into the cabin. However, I do not feel that this is simply "in the air"

Any guess as to what this might be?
Anyone had this problem before.

Thanks
David

Dave,

This happened to me on my 560SL. Happened at around 45K miles, out of the blue. Of course, it took a while to find because the weep would go on the exhaust manifold and burn off. Same thing, after about 15 mins. After a while, gunk started to form around the rocker covers from the oil seeping and sure enough, the gaskets were shot. Tightening the bolts will stop it for a while but 9 out of 10, you have to replace them. They're usually silicone rubber so no need for gasket maker and messy stuff, so it's really an easy job. Change the pair if you have 2; it was a 1.5 hr. job for me. (I keep dropping tools under the car )

Ray