I have an 83 300SD with 210k miles . I bought the car about 8 monthes ago from a friend . When he purchased the car , it had a burnt exhuast valve. He had a rebuilt head installed . Since I've owned the car , it seems to be losing coolant . I had my mechanic check the coolant tank today, and it seems that I have a combustion leak into the coolant . That sounds like a cracked head , but when I looked at the compression readings that were taken a couple of monthes ago , the data reads : 1-200 , 2-300 , 3-360 ,4-300,5-200 . Does this sound like a cracked head , a warped head , or should I be pricing a motor . I don't want to invest a ton of money in the car , I just want some feedback from some other experts .

Thanks,
Todd Lusby

It could be either, but if there is combustion in the coolant, I would lean toward pulling off the head and looking for a crack before replacing the engine.

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Benzmac:
ASE CERTIFIED MASTER AUTO TECHNICIAN
LEAD TECHNICIAN FOR 14 BAY FACILITY
MERCEDES SPECIALIST 8 YRS
PARTNER IN MERCEDESSHOP.COM

I spoke with my mechnic today , the first thing he is going to do is a compression leak down test . Hopefully this will tell us where we are losing the compression in 1 and 5 . Anyone know a good place to buy a used head or motor ?

Well, now that you asked, we here at MercedesShop will be offering parts in two weeks or less depending on how fast we can get our e-commerce set up. Once set up, we will offer new, rebuilt and USED parts...If you do need some parts sooner e-mail me off of the links page.

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Benzmac:
ASE CERTIFIED MASTER AUTO TECHNICIAN
LEAD TECHNICIAN FOR 14 BAY FACILITY
MERCEDES SPECIALIST 8 YRS
PARTNER IN MERCEDESSHOP.COM