How is oil separator drain tube mounted?

[RayG]

The oil drain tube that runs from the bottom of my air filter housing to the oil pan is only attached at the ends. If I remove my air filter housing, the drain tube just falls over to the side. It is also difficult to attach the tube to the bottom of the air filter housing. The nipple on the bottom of the filter housing and the top of the drain tube do not align well and the drain tube seems like it is too close to the exhaust side of the turbo. Actually, the drain tube pops loose on a semi-regular basis and I have taken to connecting the two with a piece of heater hose and shoe clamps, a ugly fix at best.

Can another mid-80's 126 owner tell me if their oil drain tube is supported somewhere other than just at the ends?

Am I right in assuming that the nipple on the filter housing should slip into the top end of the drain tube? Or is there a part that connects the two?

Maybe I have the wrong air filter housing and/or drain tube on my car. Would someone with a '85 300SD post the part number on their air cleaner housing?

Thanks in advance for any help I can get.
RayG

[85drtysthbenz]

mine is the same way...but if you look at the peice on the air filter housing, the part that connects to the drain tube, youll probably see its missing an O-ring...i think that O-ring helps a lot with keeping the tube connected to the air filter housing...also, the tube may not even be attached at the oil pan side of it either...i went for a long time without knowing mine was even off, until i had the car jacked up and could get in there and see it up close....from up top, looking down on it, it appeared to be attached because you cant really see where it ends at....if you can pull the tube up towards you at all, its not attached...if it moves laterally, thats OK....i dont think theres anywhere for it to mount other than on the two ends of it....you might try getting an O-ring for the air filter side, and check the bottom side to make sure its attached...i think its got an O-ring on the bottom as well, where it goes into the oil pan

[rurik]

There's a small bracket attaching the tube to the block on my SD -- I really wished it wouldn't be there when I was replacing my transmission oil cooler lines the other day. You can't see it from the top, but it's easily visible if you look up from under the passenger side of the lower oil pan. The bracket is attached with an M10 bolt and a nut -- counterhold is needed to remove the bolt, and getting at the bolt head to apply said counterhold is a royal PITA. I couldn't manage my small Craftsman 10mm wrench to fit in the space available, either the box end or the open end, so I ended up jamming the nut head with a screwdriver. However, even with that bracket, the tube moves around quite a bit on my car.

[Diesel Giant]

Yes your bracket is probably broken as was mine. I fixed it by taking some fuel hose about 3/4 inch long, slipping it over the protrusion in the bottom of the air cleaner, then fitting this into the metal tube. When you clamp the air cleaner down it makes a very tight leak proof fit. I also took 2 zip ties and secured the fuel hose to the air cleaner just to make sure it would not vibrate loose. It works great and is very stable.

See the clamp?
Its on that mount that goes from the turbo housing down to the block.
It isn't fun to get to.
Maybe that bolt is missing where that clamp used to be on yours?

[RayG]

I have no clamp on mine. The O-ring in in place on my air filter housing, but the fit to the ID of the tube is very sloppy. Perhaps I have the wrong O-ring. I will get one from the local dealer and see if that helps. I looked more carefully at the tube last night. With the tube attached to the air cleaner at the top, the bottom of the tube is cocked quite a bit at the bottom end, about 15 degrees off vertical. If I hold the tube such that the bottom is near vertical, then the top is not lining up with the air cleaner. Something is not right here. I see no apparent bends in straight sections of the tube.

Can one of you guys get the post number off your air cleaner housing so I can check it against mine? I am leaning toward the idea that either the tube or the air cleaner does not belong on this car. The fit is just too far off.

On a side note: When I got the car I found a bit of junk in the car, which I saved. Among the bits and pieces was 10mm deep well socket with a length of torn heater hose pushed over it and indications that it had been hose clamped to something. Last night I found that the socket is a nice fit to the ID of the tube and that the length of the tube was about right to slip onto the air cleaner. That piece was proably used at one time to fit the two pieces together. I also noted that the drain tube had popped off again and oil had drooled all over the steering linkage.

Thanks again for the help;
RayG

[deniss]

I'm reviving this old thread because on my '84 300SD the oil separator drain is still secured rather well with the bracket, and I need to remove this drain tube in order to replace the o-rings on both its ends (thought I'd take care of this while I am removing the oil catch pan to replace the gasket down there, and take care of this and the lower part of the turbo drain pipe too).

Sooo... What size wrench do I need to free the separator drain tube? 10mm?

There seems to be a larger bolt and a smaller bolt, from what I could conclude in looking up from under the car -- the large bolt securing the bracket to the exhaust manifold and the smaller bolt securing the drain tube to the bracket?? Do I have this right?

[deniss]

Ok, so it's a 10-mm bolt... Question is, how do I get to it? I've been soaking it in PB Blaster (put some on last night and re-applied this morning), but there's a lot of obstruction to be able to turn the wrench and hard to get leverage. Any ideas?