I don't think the head gasket is the problem. The rad was junk (disintegrating fins where being blown at the engine, and tons more fell off when the rad was pulled). I have since replaced it. There isn't any coolant in the oil (I check this reg. because I'm terrified of that head gasket deal happening to me, but as I understand its more of a problem on the m104).

To test equal compression, how would I go about this? I'm relatively new to DIY repairs, but have been learning pretty fast (faster than I would like to be learning) on this car. I've got the engine layout down to a T after tearing apart a couple different engines in junkyards looking for replacement parts.

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87 300E
202k on the clock