Joe Klesney

Hi there and thanks for reading.
Short question: Could an oil filter housing gasket failure possibly result in oil seeping thru the block weep holes?
Long background:
- W211 / OM642 / 2007 / 150K miles
- Oil leak thru rear weep hole (active leak observed using UV dye)
- Oil collecting on bottom of power steering pump (cant tell whether it's coming thru the front weep hole or oil filter housing)
- Oil cooler seals were replaced 2 years ago (just the seals, not the cooler)
- I just had a ton of fun pulling the turbo and the pedestal seals appear good
- Wanted to ping the forum to see whether an oil filter housing gasket failure could allow oil into the V and out thru the rear weep hole
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

dvenneman

if the oil cooler was done properly, I would check the oil separator and the camshaft plugs at the back of the engine.

My reference point is the W211 wagon with 250k mikes on it before engine failure. I did a lot of stuff that in the end doesn’t do anything to preserve the valves and pistons.

Once upon a time my service guy said, “just keep oil in it”. I feel like I spent a lot of money chasing leaks to get to 250k that and that I could have spent thousands less by just keeping oil in it to get to the same mileage before the engine had to be swapped.

flbiggs

I’d think a leak in the oil filter housing would just run down the front. In my mind the obvious places to check would be the gasket on the turbo air intake (the one that tends to leak onto the swirl flap motor) and the rtv that seals the valve covers. I usually put some oil absorbent cloth on to of the swirl flap motor.

apr1

Like flbiggs, I also think a leak in the oil filter housing gasket will leak at the front and I also think the turbo intake seals are a possible cause. I am including a picture from when I replaced my oil cooler seals. You can see it would be hard for oil to make its way from the filter housing into the V area where the drain channel is (but I am not 100% sure). On my car, the orange seal at the turbo inlet was leaking onto the swirl flaps and this goes down into the V drain. And the oil cooler seals were leaking as well. Oil can also leak from the other orange seal that goes on the crankcase vent tube into intake. The turbo pedestal you already checked..

OM642 during oil cooler seal repair. Oil filter is partially visible at bottom right of image

apr1

I forgot to mention that my oil cooler seals were replaced (with the new Viton type seal) about 4 years ago and they still leaked again (about 80K miles later)

tjts1

I would rather get 13mpg than deal with this shlt.

INDYbenzes

Should of gotten the OM648 I6 CDI. More fuel efficient, reliable and affordable to own compared to the junky OM642 V6.