mlicata

I early posted a comment "$3,000 oil leak?" where I stated that the harmonic balancing piece went bad and damaged the upper oil pan and front cover that was going to cost $3,000 to fix. I got a response that this was a known problem and to contact mercedes about "goodwill", I did I am happy to report that they are paying 100% to fix the problem. My vehicle is a 1999 E320 with 79,000 miles. Wanted to let everyone know in case you ever face this issue, mercedes will "goodwil" the problem with enough complaining.l

jimmydagreek

Good job. I'm glad you really stuck it to them, overpriced b@st@rds...

MARK CUMMINS

Glad to see That Mercedes Took Care of this !
When the dealer says NO...You Go Above them!

rob_fed

I will try to post some pictures later, but are you referining to the oil leak or seepage that starts above the oil pan? Let me try this, if you stand in front of your car, with the hood open, and you look down towards the harmonic balancer, you will see the front of the oil pan. The leak appears to be below the harmanic balancer and above the oil pan. Is this it?

If so, I had the same thing, only I assumed it was just the front oil pan gasket or seal. There was no gasket, only the MBZ case sealant though. Anyways, after dropping the oil pan, I notice that the leak was not coming from the front pan, but above it. The mounting flange for the front pan is actually a two piece assembly, the second piece was leaking between the engine block - below the harmonic balancer.

Since I had the pan off, I took a small ratchet and a 10mm socket and I tightened all of the bolts that attached the flange to the block (not the actual oil pan bolts, inside the motor). They all took a 1/4 turn of tightening. After that, I no long had any leak or seepage.

I recall taking a few pics, I will try to find them to see if others have/had this issue.


Regards,

Rob Lee

MARK CUMMINS

The Oil Leak on The V6 was from the dreaded harmonic Balancer
That Seperates and takes out the front cover/oil pan/water pump and anything else in the way..on departure

Its a Know problem with the V6s, I did several when I worked for Mercedes...

Also Nice thread re the Problem @http://www.mercedesshop.com/shopforu...threadid=63512

MBZ12

Mark...Do you know if this problem was taken care of on the revamped 2000-2002 models or is it all years 97-02? Thanks.

MARK CUMMINS

My W210 With a Build Date of 12/2000 had a CRACKED Harmonic Dampner/Pulley..@35k

Its Just a Matter of Time ....before They Puke

I Would Inspect it at EVERY oil change ...front and back sides

The replacement had the Same Part Number...So It Looks Like its the Same Piece.....

redcoupe

Dealer will really take care of you if your a good customer.

Glad to hear they took care of you.

rob_fed

Per my V6 oil leak. Here are the pictures I took when I had the front pan off. As I stated before, my leak was not front pan gasket itself, it was higher or above the mounting flange. If you look at the underside picture (5), I was able to locate all of the attachments from below and I snugged each one up. After, I have not experienced any seepage - knock on wood!

Please see the pics posted on on Benzworld.org:

http://www.benzworld.org/gallery/sho...ne&parentname=

Thanks,

Rob Lee

Peter Guenther

I called my dealer and inquired if they will inspect the balancer, I even offered to get the oil changed on me instead of the FSS in the interim. The arrogant response was that if it fails we fix it, we dont check if we dont have a bulletin ", we dont get paid for it. A to check" MB headquarters was no help, some clerk told me I was putting words in his mouth by asking "so you wont check it?"
My next step is to speak to the service manager! 01 E320, with extended warranty. It will cost them anyway if it fails.