mac911

I took off the small engine cover on my 2008 C CLass and I see dirt mixed in I believe oil around the connections/plugs/sensors on the front of the engine. Engine has 45,000 miles.

This is the front of the engine, at the top, just below that front cover.

I compared it to my SLK, and it seemed like 1 of the 6 or so connectors had some similar oil/dirt on it on the SLK too, but otherwise it was much cleaner (also has half the miles).

Is this an actual leak or just normal misting from operation with dirt mixed in over the 5.5 years I've had the car? I mean, it's certainly not a detachable leak, YET. I did notice maybe a little bit was on the lid and power steering reservoir too, but very little, like it went down on it. However, it's not coming from there, as these sensors look this way on both the left and ride side of the front of the engine, so the sensors on the other bank of engine look more or less the same. Like I say, on my SLK with 22,000 miles, one of the sensors has similar build up.

Picture attached, only attached one as it's hard to make it show. I might try again tomorrow in daylight, but you can see all the build up dirt and what seems like oil with the dirt, around the sensors.

Thanks!!!

Glyn M Ruck

Re yr PM, You definitely have a slight weep from somewhere that has spread around. Suggest you clean & do a general tighten up (gently). Then see if you can identify the source.

Presume you are sure this was not a spill?
Good luck!

mac911

Thanks Glyn,

Thing is, my SLK has this too around at least 1 of the 4 solenoids. The C has it around more or less, all 4 solenoids. The SLK only has 22,000 miles, and both the C & SLK have the revised solenoids (from the factory), so surprising it would be doing this so soon. I am in a very dusty area though, so any little bit of oil is going to get caked with dirt.

I cleaned them up the best I could. I've only put about 120 miles on the C Class so far after cleaning, but it looks the same as after I cleaned. It must do it very slowly indeed.

The parts are cheap, and I can probably replace them myself, they are so easy to get to right there at front of engine.

I might just wait a bit more to make sure it wasn't a light mist over time building up.

I can't guarantee it wasn't a spill. I never spilled oil on either car, but I've only done the last oil change on both cars. The first 3-4 services were done at the dealership on both cars. The SLK solenoids were limited to the right side of car ones, right below oil filler, but C's are on the two left solenoids too (US driver side), so not sure if a spill would have ran all the way over there or not. In a way, it almost looks like it could have been a spill, but it was built up so much around the solenoids. Then again, there are lots of little tight spaces for the dirt and oil to catch around the solenoids.

Well, I will keep monitoring it and update if it gets worse or if I do the replacements.