Oil leaks and blowby?
 

My car has started dripping oil the past 2 days and leaving drops in the driveway. I haven't seen it do this since I first got it. I took the belly pan off to see what it looked like. Oil is on the alternator and about everything on that side of the engine has oil on it. My oil is at the min line on the dipstick, and I had it at the max line when I filled it. It's been 3500 miles since I changed the oil. I am going to change it friday. I bought the oil and filter today.

While I was out there, I also opened the filler cap when the engine was running. I had just started it, so it was still idling at 1000 RPM. When I did it sprayed a little oil. Enough that there was a speck on my glasses!

Any thoughts or insight you guys have is appreciated.

Very interesting,

First, Mercedes designed the engine to have an optimal oil level- full is actually the absolute max, and min is the absolute min.

I would fill it no more than the midpoint, as MB intended. That will reduce your oil consumption. Leakage- you have wash the engine and find the leak. Some o-rings are possible, V/c gasket, even headgaskets- you'll just have to look.

It's normal for diesels to have some blowby. Drive it hard, feed it good fuel and use diesel rated oil. All will minimize blowby by seating the rings.

Michael

Thanks for the reply! I will change the oil and try to fill it to the mid level as perfect as I can.

How expensive can it be getting leaks fixed?

You need to wash down the engine thoroughly top and bottom at the coin operated car wash. Then start watching everything often and closely until you locate the leak. You cannot determine what it will take to fix the leak until you determine exactly where it is.

Good luck,