My first post. Head Oil Leaks

[w113dude]

I agree with Cees, It never occurred to me that those bolts would leak as I have never take one out.

[280SE Guy]

Mark,

If you do end up taking the rockers out make sure you know which one goes where, mark them as to their location as they become "married" to the cam lobes over time. Is it possible for you to take a picture of where the oil is exiting your engine?

Regards,

280SE Guy

Edit, reread some of the previous posts and you say the leak is on the intake/exhaust manifold side. The rocker ball studs are on the spark plug side.

Edit, again. brain phart on my "head" there are rocker ball studs on the other side of the head for the exhaust valves.

[Cees Klumper]

I suggest going with Colin's clean-it-all-up-good-then-watch-carefully idea first, he really knows, I am only a shade-tree wannabe. Actually the ball stud tip comes from Joe Alexander, I am only repeating it since it might be relevant. If I am not too vacant-headed today, these ball studs are what we turn to adjust the valve clearances. So they are always supposed to be somewhat loose, in any event not fixed in place with something like thread sealer.

But if you take one out you would indeed have a hole in the head through which oil would come out.

[912uk]

I totaly agree with the clean it run it and look..

I am happy to do that but also aware I don't want to run it too much incase i breach the head gasket and start seeing burning oil out the back 

I didn't get chance to work on the car today , wifes BMW took over my much need time  well I have to keep her happy.. in order to keep the Mercedes 

I have studied the block in more detail though I got 5 mins to look around it..

What gave me a false sence of security was that when it was running eg came back from a 20 mins drive the engine was clearly covered in oil runing down.. then leave it over night and it's like it's ALL gone! you can see evidence but nothing like it was when it was running.

But clearly the main big leak is under the inlet manifold and behind the water pump...

I must thank you all for your help.. it really is make or break.. I am not asking much from the car.. to use it as a family car it's not going to be used every day more like twice a week.. but it's better than it sat in the lock up for 3 months at a time. Just I need it to be reasonably reliable. The wife reminded me of a number of people we know of recent who have died in one way or another and that the stress of the car going wrong again just is not worth it and to sell it for some one else to look at.. but I have to say input from you guys is stress shared. I don't feel as wound up as I did when I first saw the leak.. so thanks again. But driving it does make me very relaxed and calm. I live for those moments 

[280SE Guy]

Could the oil be coming from the timing chain tensioner?

The rocker ball studs are a two piece unit, the lower larger threaded part should be tight and sealed into the head. The upper part threads into the lower part for adjusting the valves, see pic attached.

Regards,

280SE Guy

[ja17]

Very rare to have head gasket sealing issues on this engine.  In fact there are only three  places that oil travels between the head and block. Two of these places are under no pressure and are simply drains where oil runs back down to the sump. One is at the extreme rear of the head under the last cam stand and the other is the chain gallery in the front of the engine. The last place is where oil under pressure from the oil pump travels from the block and up around one of the front head bolts to feed oil under pressure to the front camshaft stand and the to the camshaft. So if you are leaking oil from the head/block  seam, I would suspect that the gasket has been damaged or something is keeping the head from pulling down. On the manifold side of the engine there are basically no oil galleries. I have never heard of head bolt length being an issue, but if the head is severally over-cut this could be possible. Removing the head bolts one at a time and checking total depth with a rod compared to the length of head bolt should rule this remote possibility out.

Make sure the leak is not from somewhere else (valve cover gasket etc).As Pat suggests clean everything very well so you can isolate the leak.  Re-torque head to the specified 80 ft/lbs

[clembeauch63712]

Hi; I might as well add my 2 pennies worth..  I cant imagine that the  2 bolts down in the front corners of the timing chain galley are not in or not tight ? If a bolt at the right frt corner was not in there oil would puddle in the hole and cause leakage.. As Stick said clean it well - I would use Brake Clean to remove all residue..It removes oil and is not harmful to any rubber items- just spray it on and it will evaporate leaving it clean.. Start the engine and watch from the get go as you want to see it's frist place where starts to show up.. Good luck  Regards Clem

[912uk]

Ok well I got round to it finally,  I backed off one bolt at a time, and retoqued to 80ft lbs infact it worked out to 83, this is if the wrench is acurate.
This was after I took the car for a run around the block to warm up the engine first.

I also have a leak from the coolant under the thermostat housing
On the subject of that area what oil leaks can I expect around that area as there are clearly some there, if the head weeps again I am going to live with it. I just hope I have not done any damage by retorqueing the head, but as far as I am aware I have just done it as per the manual and as alot of people on here have said. There is no excessive leaks but there are leaks that need to be looked at. Other than that its just a case of one step at a time. I will get it cleaned off in that area and start looking for leaks , I will let you know.

Any spelling issues im on my tablet thing, painfull to type. Arrrrr

[Benz Dr.]

It's not going to be ball stud problems. Anything on the exhaust side leaks directly into the exhaust ports and is either burned up or comes out as smoke. The spark plugs will generally remain clean.
It's not head bolts either, or at least I would be very surprised to see that. It's more likely to be timing chain tensioner seal or a missing or loose screw under the chain tensioner. Sometimes the screw hole will go all the way through the casting which provides a handy but difficult place to find a leak.
Most upper engine oil leaks tend to be valve cover gasket in origin so don't rule that out. I have seen the odd front crank seal leak and mostly from wear. If it's new and it leaks, it's probably the garter that fell off the inner seal during assembly. This is more common than you would think.

On 230SL engines there should be a screw at the right front bottom corner of the block to cap off the spare alternator mounting bracket holes. Forget to install that and you will have a lot of oil everywhere.

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Hello Mark,

Have you resolved your oil leak issue? Just wondering here.

I too have a oil leak and my plan is to get the engine cleaned (have a date tomorrow to have this done) then carefully check by starting the engine after the engine bay is cleaned to locate the leak.

I hope it is nothing major since the car was stored for quite some time and has only seen low milage in the past 20 years.