What Does The Cash for Clunkers Goop Ruin?

[long-gone]

At one of the junk yards I frequent there has only been only one decent W124 there for nearly a year, the only Benz there. Now with the cash for clunkers program they seem to have picked up several Benz's, BMWs, a few Jag's and other good Euro's.

Now, I know they pour some gunk in the crankcase that hardens but what exactly does it ruin? Does this stuff drain down into the oil pan and come back up through the filter or does it harden right in the head? does it just plug the oilways and seize a motor from lack of oil? Are the heads salvageable? Can a machine shop boil out any of the gunk in the oil galleries?

I know the fuel distributors, radiators, heater cores and anything not in contact with the oil are still good. I tried to take the oil filler cap off one and it wouldn't budge, but mines pretty hard to get off too without some tool for leverage.

BTW one '90 190E 2.6 has a 5-speed, would that bolt up to a 91 300E 2.6? If the answer is yes, I may start a thread on how to do the conversion.