Heavy Oil Leak CLK 320 (2004)

[Hillman]

Hi All

I have recently bought a 2004 CLK 320 petrol. Yesterday a fairly major oil leak appeared and I'm looking for any advice.

So the car has 87k miles on it FSH and in excellent condition. The oil appears to be form the passenger side and it is leaking at the back of the engine bay. There is oil along the bottom of the car, on the exhaust, in the plastic pan under the engine and some has splashed up the inside wheel well on the passenger side. It is mainly dripping out behind the passenger wheel and there is enough that it is coming out at the front of the pan as well.

It appears to leak more when the engine is running as there wasn’t much more under the car this morning when it has been parked up all night. SO tomorrow I am going to start stripping it down to see where it is all coming form.

So has anyone had this kind of leak before? It appears to have just started as I have had the car 5 weeks and apart form a hot smell after heavy acceleration (mentioned in another post) the car has performed flawlessly. Many thanks in advance for any ideas/advice.

Paul

 

[noogieman]

Have you tried Omega 917?
This oil treatment can stop leaks if it isn't to worn.

 

[clk320x]

Have you tried Omega 917?
This oil treatment can stop leaks if it isn't to worn.

Better to fix the actual issue

 

[PobodY]

I'd be interested to hear / see what the leak was. - I would have thought top-end if it only leaks when the engine is running; anything associated with the sump would just leak all the time.

 

[Old spanners]

Hi All

I have recently bought a 2004 CLK 320 petrol. Yesterday a fairly major oil leak appeared and I'm looking for any advice.

So the car has 87k miles on it FSH and in excellent condition. The oil appears to be form the passenger side and it is leaking at the back of the engine bay. There is oil along the bottom of the car, on the exhaust, in the plastic pan under the engine and some has splashed up the inside wheel well on the passenger side. It is mainly dripping out behind the passenger wheel and there is enough that it is coming out at the front of the pan as well.

It appears to leak more when the engine is running as there wasn’t much more under the car this morning when it has been parked up all night. SO tomorrow I am going to start stripping it down to see where it is all coming form.

So has anyone had this kind of leak before? It appears to have just started as I have had the car 5 weeks and apart form a hot smell after heavy acceleration (mentioned in another post) the car has performed flawlessly. Many thanks in advance for any ideas/advice.

Paul

I'd be looking at the cam cover gasket on that side. Have a look on youtube for videos.

 

[Hillman]

Hi all thank you for all the help. So today I have been under and removed all the pans plus dried everything and I have to say this is very weird. It appears I don't have an oil leak but I have a leak of something.

The fluid coming off the car is black but evaporates off the drive over a few hrs. It's relatively odourless and doesn't feel to greasy. See photos (just tried to upload will need to reduce the size and add later when home) Whatever it is it is coming from the passenger side of the car. And dripping off the front bush in the photo

I can't see anything above the suspension bush and can't trace any way for it to track down to the bush. I'm thinking it is either aircon condensate (but the aircon needs gassing so not getting cold) or some type of exhaust condensation mixing with soot but then I would expect to hear a blowing exhaust. I have it on ramps tonight with cardboard under it to see if I can get any other area of drips. It's a really weird one.

Is anyone on here an aircon expert who could offer advice. Can you really get this kind of black fluid. Also worth saying I filled the washer bottle to overflow to see if it was black inside. It isn't and isn't leaking. There isn't a loss of power steering fluid and it is nice and clear yellow in the reservoir.

 

[PobodY]

"Black" just says "dirty" to me. - The fact it's relatively odourless and evaporates away suggests that it could be water (or coolant); it's probably the gunk it's picked-up that makes it feel greasy.

Oil would be very greasy, and wouldn't evaporate... but it might be relatively odourless.
Fuel would evaporate, but it wouldn't be odourless.
Something like power steering fluid, brake fluid, or gearbox fluid are not going to evaporate and are probably not odourless either.
I don't know what's in the engine mounts, but if that has failed and is leaking, it would be in the right area.

Welch plug leaking?
Hoses running to the heater matrix leaking?

 

[Stevie777]

Are you 100%sure it's not oil?
From memory, these engines aren't fitted with a sump gasket, just a sealer which can break down over time and leak - bit of a pain to re do, messy job and specialist sealant required.
Put the pics on if you get chance.