I have traces of oil in my coolant reservoir...but when I flushed it twice, nothing substanial came out either time. Is this a sure indication of a bad head gasket?? Could it be anything else?? (something, maybe, less expensive!). How long can one drive a car with this problem?
And finally...how much $$ might be looking at to make this repair...worse case scenario.

Sounds like head gasket but could also be a couple of other things. does your car go through a fair bit of oil?

I had this problem with my 300E but thoroughly cleaning out the expansion tank, flushing the radiator with Tide and cleaning all my hoses, and also adding Lucas oil stabiliser seemed to cure it.

The head will have to come off, and at that mileage you'll want to do a valve job too, so budget around $1000-$1800.

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1993 320TE M104
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past:

1983 230E W123 M102
1994 E300D S124 OM606 (x2)
1967 250SE W108 M129
1972 280se 3.5 W108 M116
1980 280SE W116 M110
1980 350SE W116 M116
1992 300E W124 M103
1994 E280 W124 M104
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"music and women I cannot but give way to, whatever my business" -Pepys

It happened to my 91 300E at 174k miles, the first head gasket was replaced at 55k miles. I tried to flash and change the coolant, but it always come back after a few days. Last month, I removed the head and changed the gasket.

The machine shop charged me $350, which include machine the head and changed the valve guides and seals. The parts cost was about $350, and 5 days of free labor.

I also removed the timing chain cover, and changed both timing chain guide and tensioner.

Jack

After flushing and driving for a bit, about the same amount of oil showed up in the coolant reservoir again. Would Bar's Leak be worth a try? I have heard it can work. Matter of fact a mechanic told me that GM recommends trying it before head gasket replacement. Can anyone comment on this??

You can always try it, but I think it's a waste of time.

Jack

I had the head gasket done on my 1991 300CE at about 130k after I noticed a little oil scum in the overflow tank. My tech said it can go for quite awhile, some cars come in with an inch of oil floating in the tank. He said to change sooner rather than later as the oil harms all your coolant hoses and replacing these just adds to the bill.

glenmore
1991 300CE

I think it's standard operating procedure for some mid to late 90's Cadillacs to put Bars Leaks in following a coolant flush.

I remember reading this for a 98 STS that I almost bought.

The recommendation is to use the powdered Bar's Leaks, not the pellets.

Would I try it? Probably. GM has a specific formula on how much to put in...I think it was two tubes for an STS

I think years ago, this was recommended for Mercedes as well..... quite a few years ago... but don't hold me to it.

My 88 300e is still holding up well under the original head gasket, but I think a lot of that has to do with the previous owners maintainance....althought when I bought it the coolant was green... I flushed that out immediately and put in the yellow stuff.