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Old 05-20-2017, 08:49 PM
Benz Mondi Benz Mondi is offline
Benz Mondi
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Sacramento area
Posts: 308
Stem Seals Done! Smoke....

(Here's the details...)


Final Update...


Put the new stem seals in with the help of the main hose from the leak down test kit I got form Harbor Freight. Went as planned, but took a little longer time since I had to do a lot of cleaning to the valve train and rocker arm assembly as I went along.I also cleaned the area uncovered once the rocker assembly was removed for each piston.


After the stems seals were in place, disappointingly, the blue got worse. Rains came to CA so didn't do much until a few days ago. Assuming that the smoke was coming from a needed head gasket or valve guide job or both, I wanted to see if the transmission had any issues. I had convinced myself I could take on the removal of the head myself, but if the tranny was bad, I might as well just junk it.

I would do a midnight test drive around town to test the transmission because of all the smoke- no cars and all the nosey neighbors asleep. As she had always done, she fired up on the first try and had a smooth and steady idle. As expected a ton of smoke came out of the exhaust as soon as I put it in gear and back her out of the drive way she’s occupied for the past 3 months.The first 5 minutes, the smoke was so thick,that I could have been laying a smoke screen down for the Navy. But after 5 minutes of normal driving, the smoke seemed to diminish and actually disappeared all together! I then figured that I would use this time to get some new 91 Octane in her. I filled her tank ½ way. Got in the car turned the key and she started right up again. I then got out while the engine was running and walked to the back to see what I could see coming out of the tail pipe. By the time I got back there, she started to stall. Before I could get back in the car, the motor quit. I turned the key to get here started, but this time and for the next 10 minutes, she would not start.

I was stuck at a closed gas station at ½ past midnight with no one around- bummer. On what was going to be my last attempt before I wore the battery down, I decided to do something I learned from my first car back in 1976. I had a 1971 MG Midget. To get that pig started, I had to pump the gas pedal like I was trying to stomp out a fire. Since the 300SEL is fuel injected, this really isn’t going to help, is what I thought. Low and behold, she fired up and I quickly drove her the 5 minutes back to the house. She drove fine the whole time- no smoke, shifted as she should have, and idled nicely as I slipped her into the driveway. That was two nights ago. I’ll see how she acts tonight and why a new idle issue, but that will be for another thread.

Besides all the good tips learned about doing the stem seal work, a good one for all to keep in mind is this. Beware of using ATF with your engine oil. ATF is 10X smokier than normal engine oil.If you add it to your engine oil to help “clean” the oil system as I was advised, only do so if you are not experiencing any oil leaks into your combustion system.I believe that while I was running the engine before doing the stem seal job to “help clean the system” the mixture was actually seeping into my exhaust system and leaving a residue that eventually lead to all the smoke that I experienced. No head gasket or valve work anticipated... for now.

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03 CLK430 Cabrio 211K Pweter Silver/ Oyster Leather
90 300SEL 214k Pearl Black/ Alto Grey/Black Leather

Prior: 85 190E, 88 300TE, 89 300TE, 90 300E 2.6, 90 300TE, 92 300E 2.6, 91 and 93 300SL, 87 Ferrari Mondial Cabrio
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