eyeguy

I had my car on a lift for a fog light bulb change when I noticed some dark yellowish fluid leaking from an unknown source deep in the engine and accumulating around this pan (?transmission) under the car. The car runs/shifts fine with no malfunction lights. I have an appointment to take it in on Monday. Any ideas what could this be?

2000 E320 4Matic 137K miles
All maintenance done regularly at dealer/indy

desired_speeds

yellow fluid sounds like coolant.

01BlackE320

I had a similar problem. It turned out to be transmission fluid leaking from the electrical connector on the tranmission. It;s on the side of the transmission a few inches above the pan. Transmission fluid starts out red but turns clearish yellow when it gets old. It looks kinda like clean motor oil.

Anyway Its a common problem and an easy fix. My Mercedes specialist indy shop did tranmission service and replaced the connector. He had a drawerful of them. The o-rings on the connector starts to leak after a while.

Coolant is beer colored and wouldn't be as oily. That's a possibility too

Fabio D

Yea! thats it. Connector sealant, this is transmition fluid, & is white/yellowish case the OEM oil in this era is yellow, now is replaced by red oil

Anyway, seems to me you have a leak by the rear crankshaft seal (need to remve the trans to replace it) expensive work but not any major.. common in this engines with this millage

Fabio Daniel