This pertains to a '89 190e 2.6 with 130K miles. I bought this car at 113K last year. I had the front end rebuilt (damaged due to an accident) and included installing new parts such as lights, hood, radiator. bumper, bumper cover and used A/C condensor and auxillary fans etc.
I have been driving without airconditioning as I have not recharged the freon and besides it has been relatively cool here in Northeast Ohio..we did not hit 90 degrees this summer so I thought I would wait until spring '05.
The car has been driving relatively well and just recently, I began to smell hot oil in the cabin, not necessarly burning oil. It is especially bad on a hot day or after I been driving for about 30 min. I had my mechanic test drive the car and had a hard time detecting oil. All my passengers can hadly smell the oil because it is appears to be more intense on the driver's side by the staring column. It does not appear to come through the air vents as I can smell it even when the vents closed. There are no serious leaks in the engine and ceryainly nothing near the visible exhaust system.
I changed oil about a week ago at exactly 130,000 miles and had 5 quarts of oil added (by mistake). A week later (this past saturday) at 130,550 miles the oil came on and I added another quart of oil and the dip stick still shows a not so full level. There are no obvoius leaks anywhere and just yesterday I noticed that a faint smell of coolant came through mixed with the smell of oil. The coolant level appeared to have dropped a little. This morning on my way to work, the smell of coolant was obvious and more pronounced and I could still smell that hot oily smell. The smell of coolant was so strong that when I got work I could faintly smell coolant on my clothes for hours!
I must also stay that I sometimes think I smell exhaust.I can no longer drive with my windows closed because I usually feel like I am choking!
My question is what is really wrong here. I have suspected the heater core for quite a while. Now I am beginning to think it might be a bad headgasket.
Can anyone guess or shed some light as to what the problem might be. I expect things to get worse on my way back home this evening.
What's a "heater matrix" and where is it located? Could that be the same as "heater core" for us here in the US? And the oil gauge pipe? How do I fix them? Take out the dash?
you first need to confirm if it is the oil gauge pipe then it might need replacing, and the heater matrix/core i think we mean the same thing..
for the oil gauge try putting you hand behind the dash and feel for oil on the metal chances are if the gauge is working it could be ok and the problem could be under the hood "oil dripping onto the exhaust from the rocker cover or something like that, heat core is behind the radio center of the dash
Only the W201's up to and including 1984 had live oil lines going to the oil pressure gauge, so it's not an oil pressure sender issue.
The front of interior, behind the dash, is a myriad of grommeted holes for the wire harnesses and the heater core. It's possible that you're getting engine bay fumes from there. If it's predominantly on the driver's side, the biggest hole on that side is where the fuse box comes through the bulkhead and where the brake pedal connects to the booster/master cylinder. Check the seals before yanking the dash.
Well, my drive home was uneventful. It was a relatively cool evening and did'nt get my usual whiff of smells UNTIL about 15 min in the drive.
Based on the suggestions given..I am leaning towards to possiblities:(1) MTI's suggestion that there may be a leak through the firewall via defective seals (2) that the heater core may be a leaking. I will check the seals first. It may very well explain why I smell the oil, exhaust and coolant(?).
BTW, about my 5 quarts of oil at oil change. I checked my owners manual and discovered that these babies actually swallow 6.3 quarts (US) of oil! I have been under feeding my baby at oil change..no wonder the oil light came on.
Linear Mode
