3.0 TDi oil leak all over belts and pulleys
 

I had an oil leak all over the belts and pulleys a couple of months ago and it seemed worse around the tensioner damper. I replaced this and the belt and cleaned everything up. Quite a job removing bumper, bumperbar, lights pulling front forward front end etc,... Fast forward to now and same again.

It must be leaking somewhere else, definately engine oil, not steering fluid.
As soon as it goes on the belts it sprays everwhere so really difficult to find the source but I suspect the oil pressure sensor when pressure is high which is in the block on the drivers side front behind the electropneumatic device mounted on rubber bushings. I suspect this because after scrupilous cleaning I can't imaging how the oil got flung into the crevice that was clean last nigh but oily now.

Anyone else had this?
I will pick one up £8 on the way home from GSF - wish me luck.

Oil pressure switch didn't cure it.
I ran the car for 20 mins at 2000rpm and no leak, so thinking possible small turbo blow-by leak from a boost pipe or hose.
The leak seems to be a mist - I cleaned even more thoroughly and have put kitchen roll scrunched up in various places.

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Could you post up a random picture off the net of an engine out of the vehicle and put a pointer on where abouts you get think it’s coming from .

Thanks ML, ongoing EPB issues and bad weather meant this was on the back burner.
Wow, what a mess, cleaned it all up again today and cleaned around the turbo, some seepage there but doubt it is migrating from there. Next I then covered in talcum powder, went for a run and the only traces of yellow oil so far are also places where it was bad before I cleaned it.

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Took everything off within the V of the engine this week - fuel pipes, vacuum pipes, upper intake, lower intake and flaps, diesle injection pump, EGR, EGR cooler, oil filter housing, oil cooler, oil cooler mounting plate and oil separator - all down to a bare aluminium deck with machined holes for coolant and oil.
Cleaned it up and cleaned removed parts up and separated assemblies and replaced all gaskets and the PCV oil seperator. Jut putting the high pressure diesel pump on before the lower/upper intakes etc...

Next job will be to clean the front, replace oily belts, waterpump and power steering pump and A/C front bearing as there is a constant whine from one of them and replace the coolant and oil that gets contaminated when you do this job. Busy week so far but the weather has been good.

I think a garage would charger £1000s for this, I thank this forum for service manual PDFs!

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Man I wish you took pics as you went along. But bravo to you+++

Thanks pal, I wish my hands were clean enough to operate a phone! This has been a filthy job due to the oil leak - tar and feathered but without the feathers!

I have tried to replace the bearing in the A/C compressor pulley today,
Very difficult to counterhold and very brittle plastic. I managed to break a chunk off and so decided to order a new one (£80 from Germany) and the bearing I ordered was the wrong size anyway!

I broke the pulley up as I was replacing anyway and forgot to remove a circlip :Confused: - the remains came off easily once I saw it amongst the filth.

It is not a magnetic clutch like the pre-2003 ish cars as these compressors are variable output DENSO 6SEU14C, it's just a load limiting clutch with rubber dampers that will 'trip' if the A/C get's too stiff or seizes, I think it could then be 'reset' if taken apart and it was just a transient event.

Seems to be a problem as our cars get older - if I hadn't made a mistake with the circlip, I am confident a £15 bearing would have worked.

To remove the pulley without special tools, you have to remove a massive circlip around the circumference, then tighten the belt pulley tensioner with a T60 socket and wrench pulling it the opposite way to what you do to loosen/remove the belt. This makes the belt tight and you can turn the 7mm 'nut' CLOCKWISE - as it's not a nut, it is a hex end of the shaft, so you are effectively loosening the pulley hub off the threaded shaft. Next, remove the belt and you can unscrew the pulley anti-clockwise until the hub pops out of the pulley, you might need to press a finger on the hex shaft to prevent it turning. Once off, thre is another circlip about 30mm diameter and after removing that, the pulley and bearing should come off.

Here are some of my photos, and a Mercedes thread that was invaluable.....
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220...-aircon-2.html

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Well done Snap.
In my younger years I broke a few pulleys being over enthusiastic :D

WOW Snap!

And I thought I had problems with my boot lock ...

Julian

PS And hopefully you've seen that I fixed my longstanding overcooling problem using your extremely helpful advice about the ATF thermostat. +++

Thanks! Pulley finally arrived from helpful German ebayer and upon fitting it, it appeared a slightly different size, there was no compressor 'snout' showing at the front upon which to fit the circlip. After removing and reinstalling several times and wondering how it worked without a groove for the circlip to sit in, I got the old one out of the bin to measure. Found that the snout of the compressor has sheared off cleanly around the circlip groove and was still inside the bearing:-( It was a bit corroded in the grove and quite thin so was weak and I was a bit aggresive.

Nevermind, what can I do, I just cleaned it again and used the strongest Loctite bearing fit and will leave it to cure overnight before continuing. The bearing was a good snug fit so it should be fine.

Hopefully I will get the car back on the road this weekend and the rain will stop for me to save getting wet.
I also ordered 4x upper suspension arms seeing as the wheels are off and the wheelarch liners removed.

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