Have you seen a 140K mile engine this clean?
 

I took the valve cover off my '95 E320 conv. to change the seals and can't believe how clean the head is. Is there a way to tell if it's been replaced?

http://www.fototime.com/EE6E6F737A09DF0/standard.jpg

that shows two things.
one, regular oil changes were followed.
two, quality oil was used.
I see the same on 300K engines with aluminum heads.
it shows the car was not driven hot, or overheated either.

You would be even more surprised that your cylinder walls probably have full cross hatching still. :)

Looks nice, about the same as my 270kish mile 603 did when I took the valve cover off.:D

Synthetic oils make the difference, what are you running?

Just got the car so I don't know what they used.

They were running a good synthetic, I'd go with Mobil 1 0w40, worked good in my friends M104.

What I run. :cool:

My 300TE's head looks just like that, I have history that they changed the oil frequently, and I've done the same (every 3-4k miles, no longer) and 45k miles later it still looks amazing at 106k on the clock.

Don't do 5-8k intervals like some people advocate. You can't change oil too often :)

http://www.w124-zone.com/downloads/p..._2010/hg28.jpg

Yup, no surprise for a car give good oil. My ex 1991 ECOdiesel, which now has 430,000 miles, looks just as clean. It get Rotella T.

-J

Ps2cho, there's a smudge on your fan blade. Get that cleaned up STAT!!!!

Yeah, we pulled the head on my 103 at about 110k, and the cylinder walls still had clearly visible hone marks, even on the thrust side - amazing.

DG