I'm replacing the head gasket on w124 M104 engine and wondering if I need to take the head to somewhere to get it inspected and cleaned before I put it together...

Do i need to take it to machine shop or any mechanic shop to get it done or is it even necessary...?

taeandji, you should have the head checked at a machine shop to confirm that the head is flat ... also, that the valve seats are seating properly and whether the valve should be replaced. It would make sense to replace the valve stem guides and seals too.

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Fred Hoelzle

I'm in the middle of a head job myself. A lot of your questions depend on why you are replacing the gasket and what the mileage is. More info needed.

How many miles? It is worth it to do the valve seals & guides if the head is off. They're gonna have to be done eventually, every M103 & M104 need a head job or leak oil around 150K+.

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Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

I'm never in a rush to do guides on a 104. They sit under buckets and never see any side loading. The 103 on the other hand sees a (relative) ton of side loading from the rocker and goes through guides every 150K

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90 300TE 4-M
Turbo 103, T3/T04E 50 trim
T04B cover .60 AR
Stage 3 turbine .63 AR
A2W I/C, 40 LB/HR
MS2E, 60-2 Direct Coil Control
3" Exh, AEM W/B O2
Underdrive Alt. and P/S Pulleys,
Vented Rear Discs, .034 Booster.
3.07 diffs 1st Gear Start

90 300CE 104.980
Milled & ported head, 10.3:1 compression
197° intake cam w/20° advancer
Tuned CIS ECU
4° ignition advance
PCS TCM2000, built 722.6
600W networked suction fan
Sportline sway bars
V8 rear subframe, Quaife ATB 3.06 diff

Thanks all who responded and here is about the vehicle and why i'm replacing the head gasket.

it is 94 e320 with 144000 miles and I bought it from ebay several months ago. the seller mentioned it had some oil leaks and it gotten severe and just noticed that sporadically, temp started going up when i was at traffic light or sit in traffic and lowers when it was moving again. before I checked the coolant level, i had to go out to pickup something and it was starting to do same but this time temp wouldn't go down... managed get back home with full heater on but when i got to home, it was hissing and some white smokes were coming out of the back of driver side engine and sprayed lots of engine oil/coolant mix as you can see the pictures.

i noticed there were oil/coolant mix in the thermostat housing and a lot of oil and coolant mix came out when i flushed the radiator... it lead to blown head gasket.

local MB indy shop quoted about $2000+ for the work and i only paid the car for $1600 for a kind of project car and couldn't justify the repair to my wife lol and my skill is somewhat limited to regular oil changes and tranny oil changes... nothing major like head gasket job... so, i'm following the pelican's instruction to do this job but not sure what i need to do with the head once i get it out...

forgot the pic again...

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maybe a custom copper head gasket would stop the m104 problem.How ever I never had problems,as I run cooler thermostat, and prop. gycol at 100%

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran