e320 oil question
 

A friend of mine bought a used 1999 325 sedan with 57000 miles on it and paid the extra $1500 or so the warranty. After driving it about 5000 miles it began to burn about a quart of oil every other tank full of gas. Took it back to the dealer and they did an "oil consumption test" and proclaimed the problem solved. After driving it about another 3500 miles the dash lit up saying I was on the lowest safe level of oil. Went to the gas station and put in 2 1/2 qts of oil and found a light brown hand cream like substance on the oil cap. Does anyone know of this model having a problem with the head gasket? Mercedes won't recongnize it as a problem and says it is supposed to burn 1quart every 2nd fill up.......

It's a confusing question - do you mean a 1999 E320?

E320/525 what is it?
 

In case this is an E320 then it's the 3.2 V-6 and is supposed to be using Mobil-1 15/50 or 0W40. My own '01 C320 with the same engine at 33000 miles has no measurable oil consumption and I change it every 5000 miles. It has always used Mobil-1 0W40 which is factory fill. The brown muck on the oil cap is just condensation and is normal particularly in cold weather. All cars do this.

If this car has been using non-synthetic oil and has not been changed when called for, this might be the famous sludging problem that caused so much engine work in early MLs. Assuming your car has a dipstick (mine doesn't), you should be keeping track of the oil level that way and certainly not waiting for the low oil light to illuminate.

And don't necessarily accept without question what the dealer says. Is this a Starmark warranty?

yes it is an e320 I am finding out about which warranty it is. A mechanic told me that model has problems with a sensor where the oil gasket is and the oil leaks from there. Have you heard of this problem?

If there was a leak that big, you would see oil all over the place and the encapsulation panel at the bottom would be drenched in it. Was the engine serviced with Mobil 1 during the oil changes or regular dino oil? How often has the engine oil been changed. I believe that there were some problems, especially in the ML where they had sludge problems due to extended oil change intervals with dino oil during th early FSS models. The sludge combined with the low tension rings would cause the ring to stick to the piston and there would be excessive oil sneaking by and burning off.

What is the oil change history? This sounds like an FSS car that has used dino. Isn't MB covering these engines to 150k?

I don't know the oil changing history, it was bought used from a mercedes dealer, Dealer said not covered by warranty because MB says its normal for thier cars to burn 1 qt. per 600 miles and they were not going to attempt any repairs because it was not covered by the warranty. Dealer directed me to call MB wjich I did and was told they were going to back up the dealer so no deal. Called the dealer agaign and they told me to WRITE to MB and see what happened. I did that with no results. Called the dealer again and they said to pick up the car which I will do this Monday. The dealer thinks this is a MB problem but that they are only following MB instructions. A good frien d of mine thinks theree are techinical service bulliten dealing with this problem having to do with a sensor and the head gasket. Can anyone HELP??? How can I find the service bulliten???

You bought the car from a MB dealer and it came with no service records? Can't they run the vin? Do a search under FSS, it sounds like you bought a car that the PO decided not to change the oil on. However if the car was serviced on FSS and the oil was changed with dino then I am pretty sure the class action suit would cover you. If that was an oil leak you would smell it and see oil. Try a few short changes with Mobil 1 maybe that will clean it out.

Sounds like you are stuck though.

Thank you for the info, I will try that.