Had a few minutes today and began cleaning. Not to bad except when cleaning where the oil cooler sits, was having a little trouble getting what looked like sealant off. Was able to get it off and area cleaned up pretty good. Have the right side intake manifold sitting in a diesel bath currently. Haven’t cleaned an intake manifold since I did it on my 87 wagon years ago, still as disgusting as I remember. Below is a before and after





Now I really am convinced the coolant leak came from the oil cooler. I was starting to clean the oil cooler and I realized the previous owner/person who changed out the seals used sealant when installing the new seals. The below picture is of the sealant still left after wiping all of the filth off the bottom of oil cooler. Don’t believe a good seal could be made with that amount of sealant. Not sure with the OM642, but whenever I saw an engine (603, 602, 606) that had a bunch of sealant used on it, I always got worried about the quality of work done to it.

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2023 Ram 1500
1987 300TD
2002 ML 320
2001 Chevy Suburban
2006 S430 (gone and trying to forget)
1985 300TD (returned to father)
2007 GL320 CDI (sold to brother)
1995 E320 (sold)
1991 500SL (parted out)
1995 E300D (RIP)
1991 300D (RIP)
1995 E320 Wagon (sold)
1992 300TE (sold)
1988 300CE (sold)
1994 E320 (sold)
1995 E300D (sold)
1978 300D (RIP)
1987 260E (sold)
1992 400E (parted out)
1989 300E (parted out)