$2500 tow for an oil gauge line leak? Ouch!! If you had a match or a cig lighter, you could have drove home if the leak was near the gauge. Heat the line up till soft and bend it 180 degree and tie some wires around it to keep it from springing open and drive on! If no match or cig lighter, use your battery and heat up a piece of wire to ignite tinder soaked in diesel then build a fire and make some charcoal to soften the oil line.
The Mercedes oil line is definitely not polyethylene. It's nylon. As I recall it has 2 layers for chaff protection- a well made quality part. Probably yours was damaged by some heavy handed mechanic pulling the cluster without undoing the oil gauge connection first.
Quote:
Originally Posted by franklynb
On the other hand, I've experienced failure of the M-B part; admittedly old; under the
least desirable circumstances-- midnight in the desert, 40 miles from nearest exit.
Not fun. Had I had a length of correctly chosen plastic tube on hand, I might have
saved $2500 in towing bills, alone. Perhaps not.
Of course you can make the same argument for carrying a $47 spare.
I had a vacuum pump, water pump, alternator, regulator and starter in the spare kit.
No oil line, unfortunately.
And no way to "fake one" from readily available part.This is the means I seek.
I don't think M-B has a secret. As others note, lots of oil lines are plastic these days.
I expect some improvement by using a present day polymer, rather than a 30 year old
"design choice", which appears to be thick polyethylene. Both Viton and PTFE have
higher service temps -- at some tradeoff in malleability.
Brazing/welding a custom fitting or custom forming a hard line are within my scope of
activity, and I considered using braided hose. Good suggestion. I'm also looking for
simpler,less costly, high performing replacements. Hence,the question.
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