Back on Thanks giving day, I was pulling into my cousins house for dinner when the "Oil Level at Minimum" message comes up. "Oh man, I thought, the sensor's gone bad again". I went in and enjoyed a feast and when I came out later and started the car, the message came up again.

Caution got the best of me so I opened the hood with the engine running and to my horror, saw oil pouring out of somewhere like it was pouring out of a bucket. (no oil pressure indicator on this car whatsoever) I quickly shut it down and made arrangements for a ride home to get the carrier and bring the car back for a detailed look.

When I removed the intake manifold, this is what I saw:



There are three bolts holding the oil filter adapter in place. One of them vibrated loose and the oil pressure pushed the two halves apart, literally breaking the aluminum casting:



So, I'm having the piece welded back together and I'll see how it goes.

Check your bolts!

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

The filter stand, according to EPC, has the tapped hole for the sensor, filled with a plug in the 210 application.

The standard 124 sensor should be able to be installed (don't forget to order the washer too) and rigged to an outboard gauge or better yet an alarm as well.

Sounds like a job for an Arudino, you will need to know when to hold off on the alarm when the engine is not turning, and you'll need to do a comparator function, since the sensor element is an analog device (variable resistance?) instead of an on-off function.

I do not understand why they thought it was a good idea to delete the oil pressure gauge. It's not like they didn't have room in the gauge cluster for it. At the very least they could have kept the sensor, wired it to a SAM input, and created a rule for low oil pressure alarm on the console.

__________________
The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech

KarTek: Thanks for posting - is it possible to check all 3 bolts from the top side? Looks like one is tucked underneath? Good thing you checked before you drove away...

Agreed with Jay_Bob, it's puzzling why they didn't keep the sensor and simply have it report an alarm on the console.

__________________
Charlie

---------------------------
'66 VW 1300 96K miles
'97 E300D 239K miles
'85 300D 203K miles (sold Sep 2012)

Wow

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Get an oil pressure gauge on there asap!

__________________
$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

Hmmmmmm......So, the oil pressure was able to break the aluminum? Interesting....

Sounds like the warning indicator did it's job. Wondering if any mods were done to your car that may have contributed to this situation?








.

Jeremy out on the west coast was working on some kind of alarm. It would have to have some sort of comparator measuring RPM against PSI in a table and sounding if the PSI for a given RPM is too low. That way the engine would not be allowed to run for extended periods of time at highway speed and low oil pressure, like 10 PSI.

It's possible to easily access all 3 screws, straight in with just an extension. No problem.

I haven't modded the oil system. I believe stock oil pressure is high, around 100 PSI at the most. That would put about 150 pounds of force on the coupling.

I'm just glad this didn't happen on the Interstate. I probably wouldn't have been able to get stopped before I damaged the engine.

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

Thanks for sharing. Mid like a pressure gauge too. But really the only time I've ever had low oil pressure in a car is when the oil got low. I meaning my wife when she busted an oil pan. But it would still be cool to have one. At least mounted under the hood so when the low oil light came on you could fill up and check pressure.

__________________
What Would Rudolph Do?
1975 300D, 1975 240D, 1985 300SD, 1997 300D, 2005 E320 , 2006 Toyota Prius

Here is a link to my design. It shows the pressure switch in the oil filter cover but the pressure switch could also be in the existing tapped hole that all 60x engines have.

As Jay Bob has already noted, the OM606 engine has a plug in the tapped hole in the W210 chassis whereas in the W124 chassis there is an oil pressure sender in that tapped hole. You can certainly put a sender in the hole but then you have to find a gauge that will work with that sender.

Another option, which I've installed in my 124 and need to install in my 210, is to put the VW 1-bar pressure switch in the tapped hole (needs an adapter: the VW switch is 10mm, the hole is 12mm) and a light or buzzer or both in the cabin somewhere.

This is not a perfect fix—the experts tell me you have only a few seconds, once oil pressure is lost, before damage is done. Obviously it depends on the kind of failure. KarTek's problem is a first for me and hopefully the low-oil light caught the problem before it did serious damage. If the oil pump fails (chain breaks), oil pressure will be lost immediately, even with a full sump. With no pressure gauge or idiot light, you'd have no warning. (I wonder if the breaking of an oil pump drive chain makes a noise?)

BTW, I chose the VW switch because it trips fairly high (1 bar or 15 psi) but there's enough pressure even at hot idle so the alarm doesn't scream every time you pull up to a stop sign. I also tried the 1.4 bar version but got too many false alarms; my engines show about 18 psi at hot idle. If something happens to gradually drop the oil pressure, the alarm will sound at 15 psi and the engine should still be OK, even at highway revs, if you shut off and pull over.

You can also get fancy (this is what VW did) and add some electronics so that the pressure switch functions only when the RPMs are above 1000 (or whatever). I didn't do that in order to keep the thing as simple as possible.

Mercedes apparently decided that the risk was so low no warning was necessary. Seems unwise to me. Oil pressure is about 70 to 80 psi maximum, BTW.

Jeremy

__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

I don't think that would have been a problem as long as you were paying attention to the dashboard's lights and warning center. Mobil 1 is good for what the RPMs would have been at highway speeds. What are your total miles on that engine? Any problem(s) with your turbo leaking oil, or your intercooler flooding with engine oil?

Wondering what your engine mods are that you've made?












.

I think the car has like, 235,000 miles right now. I have some oil in the intercooler, normal for any turbodiesel that has the crank case venting into the turbo inlet but I've never had any other oil related problems.

Mods in the engine are: 7.5mm pump elements, EGR and MAF deletes. That's it!

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

That is the oddest failure I could ever imaging.

I took my inter cooler off and cleaned it at 141,000 miles back in April 2011.
I used a couple of cans of brake cleaner (non flammable) and emptied them into the cooler. It came out the other end clean. I then flushed it with the old Simple Green and it came out as clean and green as it went in even after letting it sit and sloshing it back and forth. I concluded that even though there is blow by it is moved through the inter cooler and manifold into the combustion chamber. 212,000 miles on it now and based on it being so clean at 141K I will not be taking it off and cleaning again, ever!

__________________
1999 Mercedes E300TD daily driver sold at 238K miles 106K miles were mine, rust worm got it :-(
2006 Mercedes CDI new daily driver! 56,000 miles May 2016 now 85,625 Apr 2018 and Apr 2019 101,000 miles Apr 2020 109,875. March 2024 135,250

If you've got oil in your intercooler, you've got a breach in your oil lines somewhere. That's why I asked him about the turbocharger. An oil breach in the turbocharger or intercooler isn't normal.

The PCV discharges into the intake air stream on this engine between the outlet of the air filter and the inlet of the turbo.

Blowby flows throught the turbo and deposits on the inside of the intercooler. Mine has just a trace of condensed blowby especially in the incoming intercooler pipe.

My wife's ML320 has a similar arrangement (OM642) and it too has condensed blowby in the turbo. The seal between the Y-pipe (there are 2 air filters on this engine) and the turbo inlet was torn and it was leaking goo until I replaced the seal recently. The PCV hose injects right before the turbo so there is a decent little oil slick in the bottom of the turbo inlet flange.

The EGR is downstream of the intercooler, so it totally cruds up the intake manifold. My 87 and 98 are sans EGR but the ML is still stock. Something to look forward to when I have to do the inevitable oil cooler seal job.

__________________
The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech

Might want to list engine and any other mods that likely contribute to your higher than average model mpg.