E320 gas smell in oil
 

Topped up my E320's oil yesterday and noticed a distinct gasoline smell from the oil fill port.
I'm still new to gassers, so I don't know what this means, but I bet it's not good.
Halp?

Your oil will get gas in it after a while. How much depends on a few things. If you want to know about your oil then you can send a sample to Blackstone Labs and they will give you a full report. Costs about $35. I did it once and I thought it was worthwhile.

Normal, gas has a strong smell and gasser oil always smells like that after a while. How many miles on the current oil? My brother's E320 we usually run about 7500 between changes with the extended fleece filter and the oil is just beginning to get "dirty" looking at that point and does have a gas smell to it.

Check for the gas smell again without removing the oil filler cap. There are several areas where gas could leak including the MOT valve just next to the oil filler cap. It's a potentially a very serious problem since a fire will likely total your car or worse!

I'd say if this was going to tell you exactly where the gas smell is coming from then do it, otherwise knowing that your oil contains traces of gasoline, copper, zinc, aluminum, etc, etc and not being able to pinpoint the source, I dint think it would do you much good. Try waiting until the car has sat overnight and then go prime the fuel pumps without turning over the engine and see if you can identify a leak of some sort.

I assume turning the ignition to the run position without triggering the starter will prime the fuel pumps?

that is correct.

I use 15w40 rotella in my gasser cars,and no longer have gas smell.Could be its thicker,or it seals better.

My bro's engine only has a slight gas smell to the oil, and that was at 7500 miles when we changed it....the smell is stronger in the oil of our older M116 engine beasts, likely due to the more inefficient fueling system.