tight oil cap
 

don't know if anyone else has had this problem but my oil cap is extremely tight, tight enough that i sometimes have to use my channel lock to loosen it off. i have wiped the seal clean and even bent the two metal prongs abit to try and loosen it. is my only alternate to get a new cap or are they all like this? ken

Mine, too -- I would just get a new one. Cheers, Andrew Seidel.

Mine too. Goes on easy, comes off tough. I kinda like it that way:)

i do too but to a point, i don't always have a channel lock handy if you know what i mean.

Mine too. Thought it was stuck when I first tried to open it.

This last weekend it looked like a Mercedes service centre at my house. Used the LiquiVac and changed the oil on:

1998 C230
1998 C230
1998 E300
1990 190E 2.6

Since my dad isn't allowed to pump, I had to do all four myself! Hard work. Guess what! On all four cars, the oil filler cap was incredibly tight. Three different engines, mileages varying from 55K on the E300 to 300K on the 190E. All tight.

I would guess that buying a new cap would solve the problem temporarily.

I cut a piece of 2x4 wood about 4-5 in. long. I then removed the tight cap(think it was channel locks I used), then laid the cap on the wood and traced around the portion of the cap you are supposed to turn by hand with a pencil. I then took a wood carving knife and carved it out enough so the cap would fit into this area of the wooden block.

Keep the wooden block in the trunk so you always have it. It gets the cap off nice and easy every time. It seems these MB oil caps get this way over time, so I see no sense throwing money away on a new one when it's gonna do it again.

My 2 cents.

This is normal on the M103 engine, replacing with a new cap will probably make it worse.

Good luck,

i would rather have it tight than loose.

That is the reason I had channel locks in my minimal tool kit for the Las Vegas run in the 560. Tightest darn oil cap I have ever met, least I don't have to worry about it vibrating off at speed.

Is this maybe a hangover from the K-Jetronic days?
 

When European cars with K-Jetronic injection wouldn't run at all unless the cap was properly sealed to get the right flow into the manifold from the crankcase?

I feel better...
 

...I thought I was just a light weight. Never had to resort to tools, but have found that a shop towel aids in the grip.

Mine is tight as well. This is the second one. The first was tight, then it broke apart. I replaced it with a new cap and it is just as tight. I've been using channel locks for years.

Larry,

Just bought an oil burner. May be flying down to Dallas this weekend to pick it up.

oil cap on my 1992 300ce3 m104 is also a tight little bugger.

I have a large wrench that I use to just give it enough to loosen when I need it.

I have founf some fo the va;ve cover paint underneath is not there. I would assume heat makes it stick. unless mine is leaking I'm not going to bother changign the cap for a new one.

I'll just use my trusty wrench for the added torque to get that sucker off.

Alon

thanks everyone for the confirmation that its not abnormal in my car. i will just use the wrench method or as one person said use a 2x4. thanks Ken