One way to clean it is soak up as much of it with Bounty paper towel then hit it with Brake Clean spray folloed by more Bounty.

I have a good W123 oil pressure gauge if anyone needs one.

__________________
85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

I've had pretty good luck in the past removing stains with Simple Green and a scrub brush followed by extracting with a shop vac. Now I have a Bissell Little Green Machine that's great for carpet spot cleaning; basically the same idea, but in one package. If you have a pet and carpet you need one of these anyway, and they're great for car carpets and upholstery.

__________________
1981 Mercedes 300TD, 1994 Honda Civic Del Sol
http://mefi.us/images/fuelly/smallsig-us/67195.pnghttp://mefi.us/images/fuelly/smallsig-us/103885.png

This stuff, Hoover Professional Instant Stain Remover is sort of the opposite of Simple Green. However, when I had a WVO system put in my E300D, there was a lot of greasy scuff marks in the interior, left over from the installer's efforts. This stuff kind of smells like a noxious solvent for a day or two, but it works really well. I haven't tried it on the heavy oil stains on my older car, as they kinda have added character, I guess. Plus at 12.95 a can, I've used it sparingly.

__________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1982 300D, anthracite grey, 260k miles, Greasecar
1999 E300D, black, 160k miles, Greasecar
2010 Honda Insight Hybrid
http://www.chuckwyatt.com
http://www.wordimpressive.com

Yeah, I know it's a dirty job. I guess the drip drip of oil has not exceeded my patience threshold yet. It's very close though...

If I can't fix this thing with soldering, I may take you up on the pressure guage funola.

__________________
Codifex
1981 240D ChinaBlue (Got her running with a donor engine.)
1983 300DTurbo w/sunroof.
1984 300TD manual sunroof. (Electrical Gremlins)

If you're going to use soapy water, only use the Dawn Original. It's the only thing that will break up the oil, unless you use the products listed by the other folks, here. Personally, I would just replace the sound-deadening material, and apply it with 3M adhesive spray or generic equivalent.

Good luck. When I bought my car at 171K, it was obvious that had happened in the past, as there is still an oil stain on the carpet. I will look for the aforementioned product to see if I can finish cleaning out the carpet, otherwise, was thinking of getting a complete interior if one is available for cheap at DYI junkyard.

__________________
1983 300D, the "Avocado"
1976 240D, 4-spd the "Pumpkin", SOLD to Pierre
1984 190D, 2.2L, 5-spd, my intro to MBZ diesels, crashed into in 2002

First Post!

Just bought a 1980 300TD that had this problem before I got it. Cluster was replaced, but the mess was left mostly for me

I'm about to go out to the car now with some Biodegradable degreaser I use on my bicycles and see what happens.

My worry is that I'm going to have to get rid of the foam sound deadening stuff too

Anyone have any sources or good ideas for replacement material?

If it's foam, that should be easy to replace. Go to Joann's fabrics, show them a piece of the stuff, and they may have some for you to use, or if not, try Michaels. If that fails, go to your local upholstery shop and see what they can scrounge up for you. If you need to bond foam . . . ready for this one??? Use hairspray as adhesive to bond two pieces of foam together!!!! It must be the one in the spray aerosol can, like Aqua Net. Should only cost about $3 as opposed to 3M Adhesive spray which costs about $13 to $17 a can. However, if the foam can be removed and not disintegrate, you can gently wash in soapy water and get the oil out (Use Dawn original), then you can reuse it.

__________________
1983 300D, the "Avocado"
1976 240D, 4-spd the "Pumpkin", SOLD to Pierre
1984 190D, 2.2L, 5-spd, my intro to MBZ diesels, crashed into in 2002