Oil Leak!!! Oil Leak!!! Oil Leak!!! - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

DieselHead · #1 04-13-2003, 10:57 AM

my car has 148K miles on it and I think the turbo just sprang a major oil leak. or, something sprang an oil leak, it's dripping under the car but isn't the oil pan. so frustrating. pictures to come soon....

DieselHead · #2 04-13-2003, 11:13 AM

Ok, well I'm calmer now. I still have the oil leak, but I don't think it's from the turbo. Below are pictures and here is what I observed and know:

1) the breather tube (from the top of the valve cover) was NOT connected and was pinched meaning that it was basically clogged (for all intensive purposes).

2) yesterday while driving (while the breather was disconnected) the car would get reasonably hot. it would start to approach the 90 degree line in stand still traffic which it never really did before. turning on the heat fixed that. this all started AFTER the breather tube thing.

is it possibly that the breather tube being disconnected and "clogged" (no where to vent) has anything to do with this? oil is not all over the turbo. it's all over the pipe right after the turbo and looks like oil could have come up from the air filter housing drain tube. does that sound right? is that possible? take a look at the photos.

DieselHead · #3 04-13-2003, 11:22 AM

Oh, one more thing, I drove the car around for about 60 miles with the breather tube disconnected and clogged.

here's a pic...

DieselHead · #4 04-13-2003, 11:22 AM

another....

DieselHead · #5 04-13-2003, 11:23 AM

and another...

DieselHead · #6 04-13-2003, 11:24 AM

here's what it left on the ground...

DieselHead · #7 04-13-2003, 11:26 AM

Sorry if the pics are unclear, I'm new with the camera and the sun was pretty bright. The oily coating is shinier than it looks.

I really hope the oil came from the air filter drain tube and had something to do with the breather. Someone want to confirm this?

Thanks so much for the help!

Alex

kerry · #8 04-13-2003, 11:38 AM

With the breather tube plugged, you will build up pressure in the crankcase. This will vent anyplace it can. I would think the dipstick would be the most likely place. However, it may have decided to vent somplace else and take oil with it.
If you put everything back together and it no longer leaks, I would not worry about it.

DieselHead · #9 04-13-2003, 11:49 AM

But if the air filter housing was sitting properly on the drain tube, wouldn't all the oil and whatever end up in the air filter housing? Not disagreeing, just wondering. Thanks for the reply. You're probably right.

kerry · #10 04-13-2003, 12:11 PM

I'm not following. If the breather tube was not attached, how would any oil be getting into the air filter housing? As far as I know, the breather tube is the only possible source of oil there.

There's one other thing that puzzles me: How was the breather tube clogged? If it was disconnected it would normally just vent into the air. This by itself could be the source for some oil, depending on how much blowby you have.

Thomaspin · #11 04-13-2003, 01:13 PM

If it helps, I finally found a product that really works on driveway oil stains - I had several from the 300SD before getting rid of all the leaks. You have several now.

It's Griot's Oil and Grease Cleaner.

I had really heavy PS and diesel stains on the stones on my very porous driveway. Three treatments, brushing it in with a stiff brush and misting the area with water to keep it wet for 5 minutes (60-75F ambient), and the stains are completely gone.

Griot says the product uses oil munching microbes - long may they munch. No indication that they are unionized, so they should keep working.

Not cheap, but it works. I also used it on my Harris Tweed English peaked cap (lots of oil stains - I always do my work with it on!) and it worked perfectly there too, without changing any colors.

I have no commercial interest in Griot's Garage - wish I did.

DieselHead · #12 04-13-2003, 01:16 PM

Ok, I'll try to explain. I opened the air filter housing yesterday to take a look at the filter. In doing this, I folded the flat breather tube back to tuck it out of the way. I never reinstalled it. If you can imagine, I tucked it back (and because it is soft and flat, it was basically clogged) and under the throttle linkage. My oil leak is not coming from the open breather tube. It looks like oil was forced up and out of the air filter drain tube.

My question was, if the air filter housing was sitting on the drain tube, wouldn't the oil end up in the air filter housing (up and in to from the drain tube). Does this make sense? I'm terrible at explaining these things. I can snap a photo to show you what I mean if you'd like. Thanks.

I guess I'll clean everything up and put everything back together and see what happens.

Alex

DieselHead · #13 04-13-2003, 01:17 PM

Quote:

wish I did.

LOL

Thanks, I'll look in to it. I have some crappy stuff that I'll try first.

kerry · #14 04-13-2003, 04:13 PM

OK. now I get it. Your're right. The pressure could push the blow by back up through the drain tube, then the oil would sit in the oil filter housing.
I still think your safe driving it to see what happens.

DieselHead · #15 04-13-2003, 04:40 PM

Kerry,
I cleaned everything up with Gunk engine degreaser, let it dry, put everything back together and drove it around for a couple of miles. No more leakage yet, and everything looked dry, but I'll keep an eye on it and see what happens. Very strange. I probably lost about a quarter of a quart throughout this whole ordeal.

Alex