Absolutely no petroleum based oil should ever get into the hydraulic brake system. If a drop gets in it starts eating up the rubber parts like the rubber gromet between the reservoir and the master cylinder, the master cylinder internals and the caliper rubber parts. Every time I have heard about oil getting into the brake reservoir it always meant rebuilding the entire system from one end to the other.

A friend of mine who works at a MB dealer even says all the lines (even the steel ones) have to be replaced if motor oil got poured into the brake reservoir. This sometimes means totaling the car because of the expense. Some of the brake lines can only be changed with lots of "stuff" disassembled from underthe car.

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1972 450SL
1982 300D Turbo

Yea, I just opened one up a few days ago to change the fluid in the MB. But the container was pretty big, so I guess the rest will go into changing the fluid in the Talon before the stuff sets on the shelf to long.

Well I got that done. I'm actually pretty happy that my one caliper isn't giving me problems. At one point in time it was rusted up so much that it seized. So when I hit the brakes it wouldn't let up much. I ended up sticking it in the vice and cycling it loose, still no problems a year later. I actually have some upgrade calipers ready if these start giving me problems again.

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Jeff M.
Mercedes W123 DIY pages are now located here.
1983 / 1984 300D Sold
2000 CLK430 Cabriolet ~58k Sold
2005 Avalanche 4x4 ~66k

I have only seen this occur one time. Early nineties- Woman gets new car, husband goes overseas. 40k miles and no oil change. Engine locks up. We at independant shop replace longblock with used and stress importance of oil changes. Husband still overseas and wife not willing to wait for oilchanges or pay the near $40 we were getting at the time. Four months later car towed back to shop on rollback. Car will not "pull". Wheels are locked up -suspect trans probs. Check car- Three stuck calipers. Hmm- recall issue? Discuss with customer. She had oil changed yesterday at the dealer. Invoice says "p/s fluid appears thin and low-refilled with 1/2 quart.

Replaced- Master cylinder and booster(fluid had leaked past master), four calipers, four hoses, three rotors, mastercylinder reservoir, two scalped tires. Used LOTS of fluid to flush.

p.s. the oil filter on the car still had my initials and date of install from a sharpie legible.

Car was not two years from manufacture date.