I just changed the oil cooler seals and all related seals on my 2007 e320. First run and about 100 miles later I had very little drops from the rear. Now I am getting little drops from the front and rear. Looked like it was coming from the oil pan. I just degreased the car today.

The wierd thing is I see a cloth/sponge like cover closer to the front of the car next to the oil pan and it was saturated with oil before I changed the oil cooler seals. what is that cover? Can it be removed? And how do I clean that? I sprayed some degreaser on it and cleaned some out. I went to touch it again and it is still oily. Looks like it is the possible culprit. I am assuming it’s that cover that’s causing the leaks? My thoughts are that it drips down on the rack and pinion and oil line so it looks like those are leaking. But like I said, I decreased it today. I tried looking in the valley and didn’t see any shiny areas of oil... looked dry to me. Check the area for turbo seals, looks clear.

It took me 36 hours to change those POS seals and I torqued everything to spec. Runs much smoother and cleared up a hesitating issue I had on the car at light throttle. Picks up pretty good too! The major time consumption was cleaning out the intake manifolds and what not.

I’ve got a catch can on the way to avoid oil from getting in the turbo inlet.

any thoughts?

thanks in advance!

 

That black felt liner that shrouds oil pan can be removed. It is hooked on by 4 or 5 points of attachment. One of those attachment points is sorta hidden by front differential or steering rack (can't recall which) on driver's side but I finally just ripped it down on mine because I wasn't planning on using it again ever & like you was chasing leaks. I guess it retains a certain amount of heat in colder climates & keeps pan from getting splashed directly when offroad as primary function, maybe insulates sound a little too. It's probably not leak source but will hide true leak source so best to just eliminate it's existence imho similar to all plastic & foam that obscure being able to easily inspect injector seats, high pressure lines & valley area of engine for oil or fuel leaks of which there are many on om642. I went back to owning a om648 after 2 yrs because I found 642 to be leak monster mainly due to DPF back pressure I believe. Tracking down these leaks requires almost daily diligent multipoint inspections with flashlight because once one crosses paths with serpentine belt (such as oil cooler housing), oil is slung everywhere so then impossible to track down without first degreasing. Similarly, where CCV valve plumbs it's return into plastic turbo inlet... Orange seal of turbo inlet starts to leak 1st but if allowed to continue for any length of time, oil begins to cascade across plastic covering swirl flap motor then splashes onto turbo pedestal & finally finds it's way into valley just between oil cooler seals & turbo pedestal where valley drain channel brings it rest of journey to outside of pan underneath to that felt pad. An oil catch can packed with SS scrubber pads & diligent replacement of turbo seal between pastic batwing & turbo anytime it is disturbed in slightest will slow some of the leaking down but DPF is like bananas in tailpipe so maintenance intervals between drive cycles became too frequent for my tastes. At least you've got a 2007 so can visualize your timing chain tensioner. Watch it diligently & if it starts to appear to be extending, consider 'for sale' sign or trade-in quickly unless you enjoy going in deep on maintenance. The only way I MIGHT consider owning a om642 vehicle again is if it were a Sprinter because air filter & oil pan much bigger & probably what engineers actually called for from factory instead of shoe-horning it into a 211 or x164 chassis.

 

LiquiMoly has a relatively new engine oil, Next Gen, which is flourescent green. It's designed to show leaks, although I think engine oil becomes dirty almost immediately. Not on the approved list, but my research shows it's likely spec as oils are long and expensive to approve. I use it with CereTec. Like other LM products, works great, and smooths out engine performance. My '03 E500 doesn't show leaks, but it may help locate the source of yours.