I hope I do not jinx myself, but I am wondering how common are oil leaks on the older Mercedes cars?

I have a 1985 380SE that has absolutely NO oil or transmission leaks, which I have found odd, or is it?

I wish I could say the same for water leaking in my trunk/rear floor - which I will stop very soon!

I have had oil leaking cars in the past (mostly 90s models) and it can be very frustrating, so needless to say, I am (or was if I jinx myself ) pleased that my car does not leak oil. I know that oil leaks on the diesels are not that uncommon. I looked at several early-mid 80s 300SD's in the past and most have had an oil leak of some sort. I think two out of 5 I looked at did not have leaks. One was a 84' 300SD with 336K miles and the other was a 83' 300SD with 125K miles. The one I regret not buying was a 83' 300SD with 224K miles, but ran very well, perfect tranny shifts, NO rust (local southern car), perfect interior, but it had moderate hail damage from the May 02' hailstorm we had. It was priced @ $1800, which seemed overpriced at the time, but after looking at others, this would have been a good deal. I was not wild about the yellow color, with brown interior. The best thing was that it belonged to a lady I went to church with, that drove the car very carefully. She bought a 190E, because she wanted a smaller car. She had traded it in at a carlot, or I may have been able to get it from her for $1500, but I did not know she wanted to sell.

So for now at least, none of my cars have oil leaks. Strange that even my older 69' and 73' model cars are still leak free too. I hope this holds true for a while, because I HATE leaks and I am sure I am not alone on that thought.

an 84 500sec with 133k on it. no oil leaks and never a wrench on anything that might leak, afaik

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Wow. Not to change the subject, but I love those 1981-85 "SEC" models, especially the 84-85' models. They are beautiful cars. Does yours have the airbag option?

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2004 Toyota Sequoia Limited 4wd
1991 Lincoln Town Car Executive
1991 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1988 Mercedes 300SEL
1972 Chevrolet Caprice Kingswood Estate 9-passenger wagon
1973 Pontiac Grand Ville
(Prior MB's: 1974 240D, 1985 380SE, 1984 190D, 1993 400SEL)

I have no leaks at the oil pan (86 560sl, 92K) but I had to replace the valve cover gaskets because of leaking and my steering box is leaking a little.

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86 560SL
With homebrew first gear start!
85 380SL
Daily Driver Project

http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl/mercedes.htm

Now that you mentioned that, I do have that minor PS pump leak when I park the car with the front end uphill.

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2004 Toyota Sequoia Limited 4wd
1991 Lincoln Town Car Executive
1991 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1988 Mercedes 300SEL
1972 Chevrolet Caprice Kingswood Estate 9-passenger wagon
1973 Pontiac Grand Ville
(Prior MB's: 1974 240D, 1985 380SE, 1984 190D, 1993 400SEL)

No leaks, 195000 kms, W126 1988 420 SE.

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1988 W126 420 SE

beware of fundamentalists!

If you are saying to not seeing leaks on the floor for oil or so.That does not mean you have one.The only way to see it if you lift it up.What leak are the valve covers,left side cylinder head,oil pan or oil level sensor.and the front main seal or rear main seal...If they are all good than someone realy took care of the car.....Ok now your now your rack leaks,well it is an easy fix...How about your power steering pump?or the tranny output shaft seal,or your diff?......But anyways if you are happy that you have a good car than i am happy,cause they do leak...And i am not going to mention the timing chain,cause we have been there before

with a little seepage but no areas of wetness.

and no mine has no air bags and no abs. it is amazingly simple. the fi is all mechanical with no computer. the big maintenance items have been the seat switches from lack of use i guess. the drivers is fine but the pass seat switch seem s to act up on a regular basis. some minor problems with the windows too. and the blue dash cover is cracked and the cloth coverings on the rear shelf are pretty faded too.

but the engine is very very solid. absolutely no blow by and no oil consumption. i have had it about four years and put on 53k. the original owner had it 18 years and did 80k.

it is maybe the nicest and best benz i have owned. the handling is very sporty and it will get up and go!

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

A couple minor oil weeps coming from a few gaskets on my SDL. The most annoying is the head gasket around the timing chain cavity. But it just makes the joint dirty so I am in no rush to do the head gasket.

The SD leaks like crazy, I can't figure out where it is coming from. I think it has so much blow by that the oil just drips out from the intake and around the turbo.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

you are right that the sdl dont leak as much as the sd'..you might check on the sd that the air filter is installed proper,cause at the bottom of the air filter is a oil return line going to the oil pan.And if it is not properly installed it will leak badly
and sorry tom your fuel injection does have a computer .as all MB do,exept if you go to the real old ones