M103 Oil Loss - A cheap bastard's approach

[tinypanzer]

As anyone with an M103 can attest, keeping the oil on the inside of the engine can be a bit of a challenge. Apart from the horrible valve cover gasket that needs annual replacement, and the timing cover seal that lasts 3 years if you're lucky, there's also a couple other places you can lose oil (valve stem seals) and of course, the most ironic place of all to lose oil from, the low oil sensor.

I had noticed some oil around my low oil sensor, and assuming that the o-ring was shot, I replaced it. Well, that didn't stop the leak. It turned out that oil was seeping through the sensor where the plastic is inserted into the metal.

Now, I know I am going to catch all sorts of flames for doing this.... I took a tube of the MB sealant I had opened a few days earlier and after completely cleaning and degreasing the oil level sender, I positively buried the back end of the sensor in MB sealant. That was the easy part. The hard part was waiting for that giant mass of goo to dry. The sealant has tons of surface area to bond to back there, and even gets under and around the wire and sensor electrode so that it could never come off inside the engine. I was still a bit nervous about putting it back in my car.

At any rate, my car has gone from consuming about 1/2 a quart of oil per fill-up to only consuming 1/2 quart after 4 fill-ups. Quite an improvement!

Also notice that casting flaw in the aluminum, right where the o-ring is supposed to seal? Yep, that got gooped too.

Okay, you can let loose the insult and ridicule now....