Hi, this is my first post, not sure if I'm doing this right.... or in the right place

I have an 82 240d with around 160K miles.

Started smelling diesel while driving, had my friend look under the hood, where he found everything covered in diesel. While I started the engine. he saw diesel was coming out of the injector (?) the orifice on the drivers side, closest to the cabin. When I looked at a google image of this engine, it looked like this injector did not have a hose going to another injector, like the other injectors, but looked like it had a plug/cap on it. Have been driving this way for quite a while, without realizing I was leaking fuel out of this orifice, didn't seem to affect anything except the fuel gauge! Put a toothpick in the hole and that held for awhile but now it's not there.

Can I fix this myself?

 

If you are careful not t scratch up the little Nipple the Hose/Plug goes onto you can easily fix the problem yourself.

As a quick temporary Fix you can go to the Local Parts Store and buy a 1/8 inch inside diameter Rubber Vacuum Cap that is at least 1/2 inch long. That will stop the Fuel Leak. However, that Rubber is not made to be exposed to hot Fuel and it may only last 2-4 weeks.

There are 2 official ways to go with the Cap. You can buy an all rubber Real one made for that purpose or you can buy the specifically made Plug to go into the end of a section of Injector Return Hose and make your own Plug from a section of Hose.

A lot of people do is make their own plug by cutting of about one inch of Injector Return What Hose and getting a fine threaded Screw that fits tight in the Hose and coat the Threads with some Gasket Sealer and shove it into the end of the Hose.

NAPA sells the Real Fuel return Hose and also has some 1/8 inch inside diameter Fuel Hose that People have used.
The Mercedes Dealer and the Volkswagen Dealer (for the VW Rabbits from the 1980s) has the Fuel Return Hose in one meter lengths.
People have used Tygon Weed Wacker type Fuel Hose as Injector Fuel Return Hose.

 

wow, You knew exactly what I was talking about! Thank you for the super helpful response. Have only had my car around 6 months, (my first Mercedes and I LOVE it!) and this is the first "repair" it has needed. Glad it's an easy fix! Thanks again!

 

Well there is 2 other places the Injectors can leak; but, by far the most common issue is the Fuel Return Hoses.