My 300E quit on me just at our driveway and a preliminary inspection revealed an inch layer thick black oil in the coolant expansion tank.

I had either no or irregular firing or backfiring of the engine so I assumed the problem was a head gasget. Although there was no apparent reason for the gasget to have blown.

Today I started to disassemble the engine to replace the gasget and to my amazement I found that the distributor rotor had all but disintegrated.

I have had this car for a short time and I have already put over $2,000 worth of parts in it. The former owner should have been incarserated for neglect. It appears as though the rotor has never been replace in over 220,000 miles.

I will replace the rotor, cap, and wires as soon as Parts Shop can get them too me. My bet is that the engine will run again as soon as these parts are replaced.

The question then remains why do I have an inch of oil in my expansion tank?

According to Larry Bible the possibility exists that the water jacket in the head has corroded and oil is getting mixed in with the coolant. My guess is that the former owner used water as coolant and consequently Larry's suggestion about the coroded aluminum head is right on the money.

If this is so... what must I do to repair the water jacket once I get the head off?

My intent is to replace the ignition parts... check to see if the car runs properly and if so then pull the head and then do whatever repairs are necessary.

Does anyone know what will be necessary to repair the water jacket? Epoxy? New Head?

Smiles.

P.S. I have a pic of the rotor cap but I don't know how to insert it in this message.

__________________
Earl



1993 190E 2.3
2000 Toyota 4x4 Tundra