Another oil leak mystery thread...

[mike65]

...sadly!

My 190 with a 102 engine has leak but where from is a puzzler, I had a dodgy valve cover and gasket which I replaced successfully a few weeks ago. However I still have oil comming from somewhere which showed itself first by overflowing off the back of the undertray!

I removed that and cleaned up the lower parts of the engine which were in a very damp grimy condition. I also cleaned up a small pool of oil which I spotted on a "shelf" on the side of the engine block opposite the starter (just behind the engine number).

Today I got home and did some checking as I thought the dripping had started again, put card down (the tray is off, drying out) and sure enough a few drops appeared. So I removed the air cleaner and checked the block and damn it - the pool of oil was back, it clearly accumulates and then drips down the rest of the engine and eventualy hits the ground under the steering damper/drag link area.

So where is it coming from? I checked the oil filter its clean underneath. I checked the housing the filter sits on and its only got old grime on it, nothing fresh.

There is fresh oil on the side of the cover in the area marked below.



The air filter is pretty clean and certainly not damp so could the oil be blowing out the side vent and over time dripping down, collecting in a pool then overflowing and making a mess on the driveway?

If so how can I fix this?

Mike.