Took me 5-6 hours on the first 8V I did and 4-5 on the next. Pretty straight forward job on an 8V.

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~Jamie
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2003 Pewter C230K SC C1, C4, C5, C7, heated seats, CD Changer, and 6 Speed. ContiExtremes on the C7's.

1986 190E 2.3 Black, Auto, Mods to come soon.....

Thanks for the feedback guys. So I am guessing if it really is the head gasket, then why should I drop $1800 to have another engine put in? When I could have them replace the head gasket for about a grand right? by the way, used engines are in good supply local to me, since I live close to a large MB recycle place, who has a ton of 190's crashed and such. But still, if I can have it fixed and running better for a grand instead of $1800, would be nice.

Also to do the head gasket job, would it also be a given that they do the valves too? or not? Sorry to sound like a newbe, but I have not worked on the MB cars yet, aside from minor maintenance. I have not been able to find any books or anything.

You may be jumping the gun on needing a head gasket. I thought the same but discoved antifreeze fluid drip down side of transmission. Turned out to be leak wher heater hose goes into the dash radiator. You get to it by taking off the window trim just under the windshield wiper.

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Earl



1993 190E 2.3
2000 Toyota 4x4 Tundra

thanks for the advice ejsharp:
I am however positive that it is not the heater core, as the heater core already went bad within the first month of me having the car..LOL! so right now I have it bypassed. Fluid is not even being routed to the area. But thanks again for the advice!!

If, IF you are sure it is the head gasket, replace it and take the opportunity to do the head as well. It is worth it. If the compression is good in your engine, do it.

The 190e 2.3 are great cars. Great balance, a drivers car.

I miss the old 87 I replaced with the 93 190e 2.6. It was a great running car, fun to drive. It had over 240k miles and just ran and ran. Yes, I had to do a ton of work on it including the heater core, but I enjoyed all of the work on it, even the heater core project.

Haasman

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'03 E320 Wagon-Sold
'95 E320 Wagon-Went to Ex
'93 190E 2.6-Wrecked
'91 300E-Went to Ex
'65 911 Coupe (#302580)

Are you sure you need a head gasket? Do you have oil in the coolant or vise versa? Did the engine start running diferently? Are you sure you have no leaks, such as near the heater valve? When my gasket blew I could tell by looking at the coolant and the oil. And I caught mine when it first happened.

And I was losing coolant at one point due to a bad tank and cap! My cap would not seal properly on the overflow, so when the car was parked after a nice run where the engine was at temp and maybe idling enough to get it at the upper range, I would park it and hear the his from the cap or gurgling due to the air leak in the cap. The metal that the cap screws into had no longer sealed to the plastic tank. Thus some fluid on hot days with a hot engine would leak out. Not ever noticeable on the ground but over a week and as my Daily Driver it would lower the tank. I also had a bad radiator as well. But never got drips due to the plastic noise encapsulation panels holding the fluid and allowing it to dissapate before dripping on the garage floor.......

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~Jamie
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2003 Pewter C230K SC C1, C4, C5, C7, heated seats, CD Changer, and 6 Speed. ContiExtremes on the C7's.

1986 190E 2.3 Black, Auto, Mods to come soon.....

I agree. Make sure you've exhausted all diagnostics that you can do. One more trick is to pull the plugs and check for any that are suspiciously clean. Water (or coolant) sent through the combustion will have a cleaning effect on the combustion area.

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95 E320 Cabriolet, 169K