OK, I just took my car to the dealer for a 15K checkup -- my car now has 75 K miles on it. They checked it out and said that I have an oil leak in the gront and rear engine gasket, and that they estimate $1800 to fix it. From the other postings on this site, it seems that this is a known problem, so I feel a little better. But how can I tell how serious tnhis is right now? Are they just trying to pull one over on me because I am a female? Do I have to do this now? If not now, how long can I put it off? Is this dangerous? Am I just putting off the inevitable?

Are there any questions I should ask when I go back to the dealer? Should I look for an independent shop to perform the work? Is this cost reasonable? The service consultant said it was high because it is a very manual effort to fix -- they have to take the whole thing apart. If I do this now, will I have to deal with this again? How do I make sure it dosn't hapen again?


Help! Any advice for me and next steps would be helpful.

Welcome to a M104. They do this, if it is not making to the ground, I leave them alone myself. However, if the crossmember is wet, I suggest replacement. Its all about how retentive you are. $1800.00 seems a bit strong for this repair though, but your area might command higher prices. In this are the average is $1300.00 for this.



Joe

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Project Smoker, '87 603 powered wagon
Hauler, 96 CTD can you say torque?
Toy 73 Cougar xr7 convertible
Acme Automotive Inc.
Raleigh NC
919-881-0364

My indy will do this for $600-700, says i can wait until it loses too much oil between changes. BTW, this shoud be in the tech help forum, you will get more responses for sure.

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85 300CD Signal Red/Tan sold
83 300D Manganese Brown 109K
97 E420 Midnight Blue 197K sold
98 BMW 328i Vert White 100K, sold
95 BMW 525i White 125K, sold
93 BMW 525iT Red 193K, sold
95 E320 Green Wagon 125K, sold
94 E320 White 127K, sold
85 300SD 156K Grey (Annie), sold
84 300D Lapis Blue 170K (Judy), sold
99 ML 320 Black (lease), 1998 C230 White (lease)
00 Honda S2000 Red (lease)
86 Mercedes 300E (sold)
84 Porsche 911 Red (sold), 1965 Porsche 911 White (sold)

You can let your head gasket leak oil, and that is all it will do - leak oil. It will make a mess of your garage floor, and cake your engine with oil.

I let mine get so bad that the engine compartment would smoke from oil dripping on the exhaust manifold.

I had my head gasket replaced at a highly regarded Mercedes independent garage for $1,400, so Joe P's estimate of $1,300 is pretty darn good. $1,800 is high, but it's the dealer.

If you don't have it done at the dealer, be sure to take it to a good independent mechanic that specializes in Mercedes automobiles.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

I KNOW THIS PROBLEM ALL TO WELL AFTER HAVING THE LOCAL DEALER REPLACE THE GASKET AT 1300-[WESTERN MASS.] 10K LATER ITS LEAKING AGAIN A LITTLE UP SET AT THIS PIONT I BUY THE 12 PIONT HEX SOCKETS AND RE TORQUE THE BOLTS.. I KNOW THAT THESE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE A ONE TIME BOLT AND ARE MADE TO STRECH BUT I THOUGHT WHAT DO I HAVE TO LOSE IT STOPPED LEAKING LUCKY MAYBE DISSAPPOINTED FOR SURE

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gene