Chris Falvey

Hello all!

Friday, I became the proud owner of a silver/black 1996 E320 with 93,500 miles on the clock. The vehicle appears to be in excellent cosmetic and mechanical conditon from what I've seen and experienced so far. However, I did discover a substancial oil leak this morning that seems to originate from an oil line on the passenger side of the vehicle(oil cooler line?). Do these lines fail very often or is this an uncommon occurance? Also, is there any source online that I can locate a replacement at a reasonable price? I don't mind spending the money to fix and maintain the car properly but I don't want to be robbed by my local MB dealer either if it can be avoided. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
Chris

Chris Falvey

Is it that nobody knows which line that I'm talking about or do E320's simply not have an external oil cooler to begin with? Reguardless, I'll post a picture of it tomorrow afternoon just in case.

Chris

The Godfather

You have the M104 engine.... watch out for a leaky head gasket and a cheesy wiring harness (at least the last part was true on the W124)

FlatlineEF9

I had a similar oil leak problem (a drip or two a day) on my 96 and it did turn out to be my head gasket. $3000 later, no more leaks.

Chris Falvey

It is indeed the head gasket. Even though I'm aware it is a very involved job to replace it, I've decided that I'm going to tackle it myself. Heck, if I can rebuild 2.5 litre Merc outboards and do complete driveline swaps on fox-bodied Mustangs I think I can successfully change a head gasket on an inline 6-cylinder Mercedes. Do either of you guys happen to know where I might obtain a technical article or complete detailed manual for this vehicle?

Chris

FlatlineEF9

Sorry, dont have any info there. I just bit the bullet and took it to the dealer. Im very mechanically inclined, but I decided to leave it to the professionals.

yoram611

hi Chris,

a few years ago I had a 1996 E320 , I had the same leak as you describe ,at first we thought its the head gasket but then we tried to replace an oil retainer located in the front of the head (it was a lot of work to get to it but certainly less then a head gasket job).

this took care of the leak problem .

I think to get to it they had to remove the timming pulleys and if I am not mistaken the water pump too .

because it was so long ago I dont remember well but I recommend to go to the dealer and get his opinion .

if your leak is from the same retainer you will save a lot of money versus a head job. (at the time it was a known problem of this model)

Chris Falvey

Yes, it's very possible that my leak is coming from the same place yours was. I've narrowed it down to the extreme front of the 1st cylinder very close to the timing cover. I've heard horror stories about my local MB dealer so I'm going to search around for an honest independent MB mechanic o check it out for me. Thanks for the additional information you just brightened my day up a little bit!

Thanks,
Chris

GuamE320

Same situation here!