Synthetic Oil Leak Inducer

[wagonpilot]

Gang-

My 1985 300TD Wagon has been living happily with the cheap crud oil from the quicky change place. That's where the previous owner had been having all the oil changes done. Thinking that I'd never trust my new baby to stranger's hands, I changed the oil this weekend using synthetic oil for diesel engines. (Assuming I was doing a GOOD thing for the engine)

Well, the leaks have started . I have a sizable leak coming from the turbo return line at the oil pan. Is this a common source of leaks? I assume I'm going to have to pull the turbo return line to replace the rubber gasket. Have any of you guys done this job? Any hints and pointers would be greatly appreciated.

WAGONPILOT
3500 miles on filtered Chinese resturant grease!

[psfred]

The o-rings is shot, probably only didn't leak before from the varnish, now gone.

I've not done one of these on a Benz, but on the Volvo, you unbolt the return line from the turbo and the other end pulls out of the pan. Clean it all up, put a new o-ring on it, and get a new turbo to drain gasket.

Dino oil is great if you change it every 3000 miles -- we use "Speedy Oiler" for the work vehicles, routinely get 300,000 miles with no engine work.

Peter

[engatwork]

Somewhere in here I read that you remove the fasteners where the upper part of the return line bolts to the turbo and turn it, I think, 90 degrees to get a little clearance and loosen it up some. Then you install a hose clamp at the lower end of the bottom section of return line and use the hose clamp to "hammer against" to drive the lower part up for clearance to remove it. Replace the o-rings and the grommet at the oil pan and put everything back together and you should be back in business.

I did this repair last year and found the easy way was to remove the turbo and work from the top.

[md21722]

I don't belive you need to remove the turbo to fix this. On my '87 the elbow onto the block is detachable and then the straight piece pulls out. These are common oil leaks on 123 cars regardless of oil used. I've seen the mechanic change many.

[wagonpilot]

Thanks gang, for the info. I guess I'll be ordering the gaskets and O-rings today!

Time to get greasy!

WAGONPILOT

I think the 85 is set up the same as the 83. If so there is a way to do it without taking the turbo off but just from reading the way to do it it looks like a royal PIA to do. There is no elbow on the 83, the drain pipe goes straight down into the top of the oil pan. (do a search for turbo drain seal)
To do it from the bottom requires that you remove the oil pan and work from under the car. Doing it from the top allows you to repalce all the seals.

[jbaj007]

I've done it with the hose clamp technique (and wood clamps and bottle jacks and prayer). I've also used this technique:http://business.baylor.edu/Richard_Easley//autofaqs/tseals.htm but without the silicone sealer (sealers and oil passages make me nervous). In each case the grommet was dry for a while and then inevitably started weeping after a bit.
According to a friend who is a Mercedes tech., the only lower turbo drain seals that are dry are the ones that don't leak... YET.

In my shade tree mechanic mode, I push the grommet down in the top of the pan with a 3 ft. long 1x2 every few weeks and it's kept the underpan area the cleanest. Not elegant nor definitive, nor proferred as a solution