Hi:

Many thanks if you've got any thoughts on this. It's black like engine oil, and the car does have a very slow oil leak, but there's not any real mess in front of the firewall, and the brake pedal messiness is much more recent that the onset of the engine oil leak.

Thanks so much!!

(It's a 1979 300td)

Could be your shut off valve ( on your IP) is leaking and oil is being sucked to the ignition switch. Does you car shut off quickly?

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

Do a search on vacuum pump diaphragms, IIRC your model has this type of vacuum pump. Maybe others with experience on this version will chime in.

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Sam

84 300SD 350K+ miles ( Blue Belle )

Could be the oil pressure line to the gauge.
Do any work on the instrument panel recently?
Before you pull the under dash panel get the carpets out and cover the rest with plastic sheeting. Lower the underdash panel and see if the insulation is oil soaked.
If you are lucky the fitting is only loose and can be tightened. If not, a new/used gauge might be needed- look at the back of the cluster and see if there is evidence of oil leaking out around the gauge.
If left unattended, it makes a hell of a mess to clean up...

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95 E300D working out the kinks
77 300D, 227k, station car
83 300CD 370k, gone away
89 190E 2.6- 335k, no more
79 VW FI Bus- 145k miles, summer driver
59 VW Beetle ragtop- 175k miles
12 VW Jetta- 160k miles

I agree. Mostly likely the line to the oil pressure gauge.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Thanks to you all.

My car seems to shut off just fine.

I'll check out the back of the gauge panel.

Cheers.

I ruined my carpets because I forgot to tighten the oil sender definitely pull your carpets. I was able to get most of the oil out, but the damage is done.

On one pair of my shoes there is this black skuff that came from whateveer gunk residue is still in the carpet. I have a new matt on top but it doesn't match my other ones.

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-Typos courtesy of my mobile phone.

if its not the line i have a instrument cluster with 90 something tho on it from a wrecked 116 body.you can have it for postage.i sold my 79 sd and wont be needing it.im guessing the oil gauges are the same.

Two different chassis type, so I doubt the gauges are the same.

When you remove the oil line to the gauge, use a 10mm and a 13mm
wrench.
One for the line, and the other to take the stress off the gauge fitting.

New gauges are expensive, if it is the gauge, just pull one from the JY
the whole cluster is about $35 and one gauge is about $7.50.

Yeah you will have a mess to clean up behind there. once in a while I still
find some oil from my leaky gauge 10 yrs ago .

Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

I think the 116's have an electric gauge. I know the 126's do.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Yes, the 126s have an electric gauge, there is a sender that screws into the oil filter adapter. Aftermarket mechanical oil pressure gauge? What's the chance it's something spilled? Have you pulled the lower panel to see where it might be coming from?

116 sd has the oil line gauge

My old 300d did this when I first got it. It turned out that the little expansion tube inside the oil gauge had a crack in the solder joint. I just remelted the solder & 20 years later it was still ok. I used the high pressure cleaner at the car wash to get the oil out of the carpet.