1995 E300 Diesel, Head Gasket.

[GreenManedLion]

I have a 1995 E300 Diesel, which I love more than life itself. I mean, I'd rather have this than any other car, period, end of discussion. Unfortunately, my financial situation is not the greatest.

So you can imagine my upset when I found out that the car was seeping coolant from the head, causing my (MB-Dealer) service advisor to tell me that at some point we will need to do a head gasket job on my 165k mile car. He told me the repair itself is $1500, but while we are inside we should also do the valves and timing chain. Infact, he said that they would not do the job alone, unless the other items did not need replacement. He quoted me $4500 for the whole job. He also stated it could be 3000 miles or 20,000 miles before we actually need to do this.

Does any of this sound reasonable?

Secondly, I'm trying to figure out a way to do this, because spending $4500 on a car is not in my budget at the moment. I might get some assistance from my parents, but I'm not sure. One thing I was contemplating was shoving the car into a garage for a while and buying something whose operative word is "runs" for $2k or less- maybe a retired Police Interceptor or the like. Fix it when I have the cash. Any suggestions on this?

Third: Is this milage wildly out of the norm for this car? I have always believed MB engine last until the end of time, diesels in particular.

Fourth: Is this repair even worth it? Should I tearfully kiss this thing good bye and break down and buy one of the new heaps of crap I hate so much?

Fifth: all of this was found out at the 165k dealer service. When I got the car back from it, late at night, it started, ran for about 5 seconds, and then stumbled and stalled. I managed to limp it home by constantly keep it revving even when stopped. As it warmed up the problem disappeared. The next morning, though, it was back again.

I brought it in to the dealer, and they appologized profusely for releasing the car to me in this condition, promptly issued me another loaner, and sent me on my way. That was last tuesday. I have been in contact with them. They re-replaced the fuel filter, the fuel check valve, the fuel relief valve, and god knows what all. They assure me this is entirely seperate from the head gasket issue. They have told me in so many words that they are not going to charge me for the considerable diagnostic work- which is good cuz labor is $150 an hour. They have gotten it to stop stalling, but its still running, to quote my advisor, "Like a drunken mule". Any advice here?