I found a INDI who is fair priced and does good work. The car came back without issue and runs better than it has since Ive owned it.
My 96 E320 had been leaking at the timing cover and the rear of the head for several years. It has 195 K miles on the clock and ran very well.
The head was cleaned, magna fluxed and milled, valve work was not needed; which is amazing at that mileage. We also changed the chain tensioner, no more leak. All for $1350.00 out the door. Service is a little slow, but the quality was worth the wait.
The local dealer James Motor company quoted the job with no head work at $2900.00
If we wanted the head evaluated it would be an additional $300.00