SL320 Oil Leak

[s280benz]

Hi Guys

Bought an SL320 recently (1996) and spotted an oil leak at the front. The garage in question has repaired it under warranty replacing the U gasket etc. However driving away I found the timing was out. I was advised to give it some exercise. After a few days the problem hasn't cleared and I feel the car vibrating when sitting at traffic lights. Anybody got any thoughts - EG could belt tensioner be playing up etc - it's a straight 6

 

[stevieb15]

Take it back to the garage you bought it from...let them provide the solution.

 

[s280benz]

Cheers stevieb15 - I'll be down too see them soon

 

[s280benz]

Have spoken to the garage who advise they did a steam clean to get rid of the oil. So taking in soon to get spark plug wells dried. Hopefully that will be the end of the saga.

 

[Medders3245]

S280 , Assuming your garage knows what they are doing, the SL320 is prone to head gasket leaks. ( if its the straight 6 cyclinder) £600 to £800 fix but it'll be like a new car.
Good luck

 

[tonyc280]

£6-800 to replace a head gasket. wow.

 

[b16-tbl]

A compression test or 'sniff' test of the coolant would be a starting point

 

[s280benz]

Ok - Good news - after putting me off for a week they removed moisture from the plugs and wells. Cleaned up the plugs (wire brushing) and sprayed wd40 over plugs and cables. Car now running as before , however I'll give it a couple of days before I start celebrating.
I did seek some advise about head gasket replacement - some argue replacing u gasket should solve the issue which seems to be the case for the minute. I'm aware that others advise changing the head gasket at the sametime. Time will no doubt tell but for the moment my leak has gone and I'm firing on all cylinders.

 

[b16-tbl]

Doesn't appear to have been a lot wrong here

Your 'timing' issue was just the engine miss firing due to water when the engine was jet washed

 

[s280benz]

Just to confirm I've had no futher issues since