My power steering fluid escapes quickly and the exhaust is very black. I have never owned a Mercedes before now. Does the power steering fluid have a means of entering the engine? The previous owner replaced the power steering unit and informed me there were two o-rings that needed replacing or he left out or something. The power steering works fine. The engine smokes out of the exhaust and the plugs fouled shortly after I bought the car. Any of this sound familiar?

The two are unrelated and will require independant diagnosis.

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90 300TE 4-M
Turbo 103, T3/T04E 50 trim
T04B cover .60 AR
Stage 3 turbine .63 AR
A2W I/C, 40 LB/HR
MS2E, 60-2 Direct Coil Control
3" Exh, AEM W/B O2
Underdrive Alt. and P/S Pulleys,
Vented Rear Discs, .034 Booster.
3.07 diffs 1st Gear Start

90 300CE 104.980
Milled & ported head, 10.3:1 compression
197° intake cam w/20° advancer
Tuned CIS ECU
4° ignition advance
PCS TCM2000, built 722.6
600W networked suction fan
Sportline sway bars
V8 rear subframe, Quaife ATB 3.06 diff

totally unrelated issues. power steering will not ever make the engine "smoke". Is the exhaust smoke black in color? Or white? Or grey? If it is black, it is running waaay too rich, which means something is a miss with the fuel delivery. Aaand by the way...just acquired this car? Something very very improtant to check into immedialty if not sooner is the timing chain. Especially if there's no service records or even if there is, check the timing chain for stretch, and for broken guide rails. If there are records showing tiiming chain service, if its been over 120k mile since, do it again!! This can not be over stressed!!! 380's typically had single row timing chains unless upgraded with double row so if yours is still a single row, preventive maintance is imperative!! It really isn't hard to do and really doesn't take all that long either, because you can replace it without removing all the stuff of the front of the engine.

^^ You can replace the chain fairly easily, but not the guides which will probably need it too. That takes a lot of work.....

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)