hi guys,

You're looking at the front of the passenger-side bank of cylinders in a 1994 E420. Towards the bottom left of the picture you can see my rotor for the distributor cap.

What is the metallic, circular object diagonal to it? (the one with part number 104 050 01 77

In addition, it seems to have a slow leak as you can see from the build up. Is there a gasket behind there somewhere that I can easily change?

I don't know if I'm right either, but I thought it's a Knock sensor.

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1992 Mercedes-Benz 400E
2002 Mercedes-Benz ML500

It's a magnetic cam timing adjuster as tkamiya said. The knock sensors are on the block.

The EPC doesn't show a seal between the magnetic adjuster and the head front cover. From the looks of things in your photo, and mind you I don't know squat about the M119, it looks like the leak is between the front cover and the head rather than between the magnetic adjuster and the front cover.

Seems to me that there should be an o-ring between the magnetic adjuster and the front cover.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

There does not appear to be a gasket it may be just sealed.
Your item is 68 and it is a magnet in the parts descriptor. items 17 and 14 are expansion plugs but that is way deep. (I hope the picture loads OK, this is my first time).

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Thanks guys for the quick and informative responses. I guess I'll just clean everything up and then monitor it better to see where the leak is coming from.

BTW if you look, the rotor is SHOT and you should see the distributor cap....there’s nothing left....but the car still runs and starts up in the cold like nothing.

Yep, its the magnetic adjuster for the cam timing. Had almost the exact same oil leak on the M119 in my S500.
Remove the three allen headed screws you see and it comes right off. There is no gasket.
Clean up the mating surfaces, put a small film of RTV on it and refasten it. No more leaks. Takes about 5 minutes.

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KenP

1996 S500 W140 Coupe

Also called a cam timing solenoid in these parts.

Mine on my W124 leaked too and I got some sealant from the dealer. Problem solved...

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

looks v similar to my "camshaft solenoid" - mie leaked (right bank) - I just whacked some proprietry sealant on it (Hylomar if its sold in the states)

worked fine

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C140 420 CL
W114 280CE pimpmobile
W114 250/8 Hillclimber with M110 and bike carbs - got any hot cams?