Originally Posted by ksing44

My friend drove at least 40K miles with oil in his coolant on his 190E with a 2.6 engine. He would occasionally pump out some of the gunk from his reservoir and add fresh coolant, but it didn't blowup or anything. He finally did do the head gasket, but it really did go for an amazingly long time with no real problem. He drove back and forth from NJ to PA and regularly drove at 100+ mph, so what the heck does it matter I guess. He puts on so many miles that it happened over a relatively short period of time. I know my head gasket leaks and the front timing cover too, but I am waiting until I see oil in the coolant and even then I may still wait a couple of years, since I only drive about 10K miles per year. I have had a leak for 2 years or more and so far no problems. I wonder if you should really ever fix anything on these cars, unless it absolutely won't start or go or something. Just drive the thing until it dies and then buy a Honda.