oil inside car

[audiophile]

they other day i was chaging out my rca's and pulled out the carpet on the passenger side and noticed that there was oil on the bottom on the floor towards the bottom of the firewall. near the bottom of the pad. the oil was dark but didn't look or smell like the oil from the engine. is there any oil lines inside the car ? or has anybody noticed or had this problem?

[Pagz]

Brake/clutch fluid can be dark.
Maybe check up behind your dash where the brake booster is, the seals maybe shot.
If you have a manual check the master cylinder,as its mounted just above the pedal.

[BrazBenz]

Passenger side... could it be related to the evaporator ?
Or cooling fluid from the heater circuit?
Rgds, Jorge

[xvvvz]

I bet there is a good chance this is the infamous problem with the migration of the transmission fluid up from transmission sensor connector's wiring. The leak gets wick-ed up through the wiring harness. My understanding is that black box attached to the back of the metal plate in the footwell is the tranny ECU. The fluid has ruined many ECUs. You read about this problem a lot more on the UK MB 202 forums. Supposedly MB has developed a new wiring harness bit that prevents the migration into the passenger footwell area.

[xvvvz]

Ok, I went through my bookmarks and found the thread I had marked:

http://mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=12199&highlight=gearbox+ECU

Here is a thread with pictures by someone who fixed theirs (it is on a SLK 230K):

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r170-slk-class/1309980-repairing-transmission-fluid-leak.html?posted=1#post2287316

[xvvvz]

Here is another case of a known problem discussed a lot more in the UK groups where oil wicks through the wiring loom/harnesses. Checking the footwell for the tranny ECU harness and the camshaft position sensor wiring is probably something we all should do as regular maintenance (I say this but will be as guilty as anyone else in neglecting to check it). I guess if we were smart we would just go ahead and buy the updated bits now :confused: .

The thread on the camshaft position sensor (as opposed to the crankshaft position sensor):

http://www.club202.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11668&highlight=wiring

If anyone changes these out, please post a how-to with pics!

[audiophile]

yeah the oil leak is near the black box. i cleaned up as best i could without removing the padding in front of it. i'l read up on it more. thanks;)