New 68 owner. Question about a leak.

[SteveKkor]

This forum is amazing. So much info and advice. Been perusing it for several days now and decided I have to register. Just had my father’s 68 280sl 4 speed restored. Not a frame off, but a lot of rust repair done and I had it serviced. I got the car back about a week ago. While driving, about ten minutes into it, oil started leaking from the interior, in the area between the steering column and pedals. I don’t know much about this beautiful car tbh, but I’m assuming it’s likely the oil gauge leaking🤷🏻‍♂️ Has anyone experienced this? How serious is it? Does it require immediate attention/should I not drive it? I absolutely love the car. Thanks again.

[Pawel66]

Oil gauge or tacho shaft?

There are posts on this on the forum, I can help find them later if you cannot.

Terrifying as it seems, hopefully repairable. Some hours work when you need to remove instrument cluster.

[johnk]

It also can be the clutch master cylinder which is just abound the pedals. You can look under above the pedals to see if that is what is leaking. It would probably only be a small seepage though.

[mrfatboy]

I agree with JohnK. I have see this before. The rubber tube that connects the reservoir to the hard pipe can become old and brittle or somebody used wrong sized tubing.  The resulting leak travels down the pipe and creates a puddle on floor.

Make sure to check both connection points. As you can see in photo below my PO used a small zip tie to snug the fit.

[sandcrab59]

AS a note.
When I purchased my 280SL 16 years ago I noticed that there was a leak behind the insulation
under the dash board at the floor. It must have been there a long time because it rotted a hole in the floor.
Since it is still under restoration , that is the area I will concentration for the leak.
Leakeage from the master rerservior to the line to the transmission.
The back of the instrument cluster is dry, so the only culprit is the  master cylinder line to the transmission.
It was a euro car sent to Calif in 1976 . So who knows how long it was leaking.
Tom