Locating cause of oil leak and various other things.
Hello all,
I was working on the car this weekend and wanted to get a few things done. First thing I wanted to do was replace the front rotors and pad, then I wanted to replace the front sway bar bushing, and lastly locate a pesky oil leak.
Front rotors and pad: Thanks to the DIY everything went pretty smooth. Driver side wheel took about 30 mins to replace rotor and pads. The driver side however was frozen. Nothing some WD-40 and whacks with a hammer couldn't fix. I did ended up using a breaker bar to lever the old rotor off. Orignally planned to do both front and back, but after looking at the wear on the back rotors, i decided to hold off on the replacement. SUCCESS!
Front sway bar bushings: Thanks to G-AMG and ZX11 for posting a how-to. Well, i got all the parts ready, and borrowed the tools needed. Figured I'd do this while I was doing the brake job. Nah-uh. Got stuck on the first step. Used a T-50 torx bit on the end link, but could not get it to budge. Facing the bolt, I turned it counter clockwise and it's not moving. I put so much force on it that it even bent the bit. Applied WD-40 and waited but it still would budge. Had to put this one off until i get some sorta tip to remove that sucker. FAILURE!
Locating oil leak: Ok, i developed this oil leak awhile back, just a few drops showed up wherever i parked. But lately, it's getting worse. I was putting this off untill i had all the parts I needed for the previous 2 jobs.
Symptoms: It's not a constant leak so I figurd it's not drain plug or oil pan seal. It seems like it only leak after I'm done driving, like when the oil is heading back to the pan from the engine. Location of leak is hard to pinpoint from looking at where the drops are due to covers on the bottom
Ok, so i removed the covers and wipe any oil residue from the bottom of the engine. Started engine and let it run, stopped it, and just layed on the crawler with a flashlight lookin for the drip. It doesn't drip right away, about 5 mins after engine stop.
Location: The leak is coming from the front of the engine closer to the driver side. I can see it coming from my A/C compressor, but i'm pretty sure it's coming from somewhere above that. Does anyone know what the cause of this leak is? Is it the main seal? I was planning on finally taking my car in to do the harmonic balancer recall (ok, i'm a procrastinator). Was wondering if I could save some money by having this fixed while they are redoing the HB.
Oil showing on AC compressor very likely is coming from upper part of the engine. Those things take some time to pinpoint. Having good garden hose I wash the engine and observe it after drive. Another way is to stuff paper towels in the suspicious area, making sure you are avoiding moving elements. Good luck and welcome to the forum. What model is it?
Silly question maybe but what model MB car is this? In my case, 97 E420, I had a power steering pump leak. The PS pump is right above the AC compressor on mine. Have you checked to see if your PS fluid reservoir is still full? The PS fluid is not red. It actually looks much like oil but thinner. Check to see if your throwing PS fluid around from the back of your PS pulley. That was my first sign.................
Jeff
Last edited by citruspilot : 07-13-2008 at 06:20 AM.
Did have the same problem before and had the engine clean.Mine was leaking from the oil filter housing. By looking at it seems like alot of work to be done so i just had it fix and was charge $160 for it.
Engine oil leak on AC compressor ;------- Had this leak on my wifes 01 CLK 320 with M112 engine. Look about 6" below the bottom of the oil filter housing& you will see a small rectangle plate about 3" x2" with a hex plug in the middle of it. That plug is the oil pressure test port by removing the plug & threading
an oil pressure guage to read pressure. The plate is fastened to the housing by 2 external E8 torx bolts,if bolts are not loose go to your MB parts guy & have him show you the filter housing picture on his computer for the gasket between the plate & housing for a few bucks ,clean the plate & housing surface perfectly clean before installing the new gasket, 15 min. job................ For owners with a M112 engine the next time you are cranking up near red line, think about this, you have NO OIL PRESSURE WARNING SYSTEM as in older Benz engines. If the oil pump decides to die or the a link in the drive chain breaks you are going to eat a crankshaft & you will never know it, when you hear the knocking its all ovr but the crying. Brillant engineering by Mercedes Benz. I talked to a Tech at Benz about no warning system oon the engine & he said "you are correct but we have an oil level system". My reply was " that is like my body has the correct level of blood but if my heart stops pumping i'm DEAD. So when the rod goes through the block the oil level warning will alert you. I don't know how they got away with this. ---------- Ray
Hey guys, thanks for all the replys. Didn't mean to ignore this post. I've been away for a minute.
Funny thing is, if I top off oil, the le
Kajtek, thanks. It's a 98 E430.
Citrus, pretty sure it's not the PS. I have to add a quart every 600 miles or so as the oil level warning comes on.
Bench, this is what I love about these forums. I think you may be on to something. This definitly explains why the car doesnt leak right away after a drive, but like about 3-4 min after engine has stopped. Likely the oil draining back from the filter. I'm not sure if it's leakin while i'm driving tho.
Ray, good info. I didn't know that and it doesn't makes sense. If the pump goes out, all the oil will still be in the pan, so no oil level warning, unless they have some sort of warning when your oil level is too high while engine is running.
Again, thanks, guys. Think the oil filter connection to engine is the culprit.
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