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  #16  
Old 09-10-2002, 08:46 AM
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Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Oakville, Ontario Canada
Posts: 26
with regards to the good advice
you guys are absolutely correct, you should have the additonal tasks completed when doing the head gasket it just makes good sense. my mechanic emphasizes this philosphy evertime i am in to see him
this is one reason' 90% of 11-15 year old mb's are still on the road.

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  #17  
Old 09-10-2002, 12:03 PM
The Safety Geek
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Sudbury, Massachusetts
Posts: 254
my '95 with 90,000 has not a drip to be found, as mentioned...It'll start to leak now that I brought it up.
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  #18  
Old 04-14-2003, 04:02 PM
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Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Santa Cruz, CA, USA
Posts: 15
Thumbs down Well, my head gasket just popped...

BUMMING, because it happened a month after having my timing chain and top/bottom covers resealed.

My tech is talking $1000 to do the job (groan). That's gasket-only, as the guides are in pretty good shape and compression is 185s across the board. Adding valves and guides would tack approx. $1000-1200 to the bill - or so he says.

Started seeping at 75k miles (this is a 1993 - 2.6 - 1993). No real loss of oil, no drips, nothing but a littel stain/grit accumulation, UNTIL it became a BIG leak in a hurry. Usual scenario - back of engine and leaking down into the aero pan. I noticed a few drips two weeks ago and now I park it on the street because I'm losing a real amount of oil. Will bite the bullet and get this done as I can't STAND leaky cars (my driveway is pretty pristine).

Still, what a nightmare. F-!

Anyway - I'm at 130k miles on the orginal. That's got to be worth something.
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1992 190 2.6
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  #19  
Old 04-14-2003, 04:34 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Dallas/Fort-Worth
Posts: 5,711
I'm at 126K now...leak hasn't worsened...

...but the oil pan gasket is another story...
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  #20  
Old 04-14-2003, 04:44 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 80
Red face leaking head gasket

Anyone out there with leaking head gaskets or wiring harness problems found in their Euro C180? Mine has started to show harness wires at the tips near the engine with wire insulation going hard and crinkly and splitting(because they are exposed to the engine's hot sides without any thick rubber type insulation). Are the leaks to be expected in the 1994 C180 model or is it expected in all Mercs using that type of engine(not necessarily of the same cubic capacity) and harness wiring too? Cannot(touch wood) see any obvious leaks yet on the top or rear end of the motor, but my tech says that last month he saw the usual tell tale signs under the engine block. It has not started dripping to the floor yet. I keep the car in my garage and will find out when this happens. Wonder what the cost will be to repair here???
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  #21  
Old 04-14-2003, 06:24 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Nashville Area
Posts: 97
When I bought my 95 E320 @104K miles, the head gasket was leaking. During the sorting out of the car, I found that both fuses for the aux cooling fans were open, and that 1 of the fans had failed (causing both fuses to open).

So I have to assume that the engine experienced some hi-temps in the past which led to the head gasket failure.

Now I'm at 130k miles.
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  #22  
Old 04-14-2003, 11:30 PM
blackmercedes's Avatar
Just a guy
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: St. Albert, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 3,492
Re: leaking head gasket

Quote:
Originally posted by hocky1
Anyone out there with leaking head gaskets or wiring harness problems found in their Euro C180?
Wiring harness issues are common with all W202 and W124 cars of your model year.

The headgasket problems are not common with the M111 engine, which I'm pretty sure your engine is. 1.8L DOHC 16V? Iron block and alloy head?

The M111 came in various displacements, aspro and supercharged. I don't know of any displacement version that has haed gasket problems.
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  #23  
Old 04-15-2003, 01:14 PM
Diesel on the brain
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Upstate Virginia
Posts: 566
How to tell if harness has been replaced on M104

How can I tell if someone has had the harness replaced on an M104 engine?

The car has 131k miles and runs flawlessly. It does seep a little bit of oil from the front of the head (headgasket I'd bet) - but not enough to drip.

We just bought it in about Sep and love the car. The previous owner had the car serviced at a Mercedes specialty mechanic so replacement is a possibility. Right before we bought it the mechanic replaced a lifter because it was tapping (the car sat at his shop for 6 months while the owner was overseas, and when started apparently had no oil in that lifter). During that procedure would he have disturbed an original wiring harness that was faulty?

-Tad
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  #24  
Old 04-15-2003, 03:46 PM
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BTW, a leak on the front of the head indicates a timing cover seal leak, not the headgasket...

And the harness would most likely be disturbed if the valve cover was removed. The harness runs alongside the right bank (intake side) of the M104 engine. The plastic wiring cover hides the main harness.

If there is nothing in the service records that indicate a replacement, you can inspect the harness by removing the plastic cover. The harness usually looks pretty new compared to the rest of the ancillary wiring. There is also a white tag attached to the harness with the part number. I believe the newer harnesses have a different part number?

Most harness problems manifested themselves prior to 90K miles of service. MB had tried an environmentally-friendly design which included the "biodegradable" wiring insulation...unfortunately, underhood temps accelerated the process, rendering most harnesses to premature failure.

More than likely, your 131K MB would not have survived this long with the original harness.
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  #25  
Old 04-15-2003, 04:03 PM
Diesel on the brain
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Upstate Virginia
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Quote:
Originally posted by G-Benz
BTW, a leak on the front of the head indicates a timing cover seal leak, not the headgasket...
That is a relief. I think that I will tackle that one some weekend.

Quote:

And the harness would most likely be disturbed if the valve cover was removed. The harness runs alongside the right bank (intake side) of the M104 engine. The plastic wiring cover hides the main harness.

If there is nothing in the service records that indicate a replacement, you can inspect the harness by removing the plastic cover. The harness usually looks pretty new compared to the rest of the ancillary wiring. There is also a white tag attached to the harness with the part number. I believe the newer harnesses have a different part number?

Most harness problems manifested themselves prior to 90K miles of service. MB had tried an environmentally-friendly design which included the "biodegradable" wiring insulation...unfortunately, underhood temps accelerated the process, rendering most harnesses to premature failure.

More than likely, your 131K MB would not have survived this long with the original harness.
I'll cross my fingers. I may remove that plastic cover and take a peek. We've driven it for about 4-5k miles and no CE light so far.

Great car. The hiss in the radio annoys me, but aside from the outside temp display not working and the oil wetness, the car is flawless.

-Tad

P.S. my parents have a '95 C280 with only about 80k miles, also has had no problems that couldn't be attributed to a rodent chewing on vacuum hoses.
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  #26  
Old 04-16-2003, 02:44 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 627
Head gaskets etc.

My father's M104 ('93 E320 coupe) at 120,000km needed a wiring harness. It has not needed a head gasket unless the previous owner had it done at under 100,000km. It is now at about 130,000km. Its water pump occasionally leaks a very small amount of coolant.

An M104 ('90 300CE-24 Sportline) with 180,000km I looked at on the weekend had noticable oil in the coolant. Externally the engine was clean but had been detailed for sale!

When we purchased our M103 ('90 300TE) almost 5 years ago it leaked at the rear of the head. It progressively got worse over the next almost 2 years when oil appeared in the coolant at about 145,000km. That's when I pulled the head off and fixed it. 175,000km now and all is well including still dry at the front timing cover.

At the time of purchase my M102 ('90 190E 2.3 Sportline) at 211,000km had a hint of oil in the coolant reservoir. Previous owner claimed to have head gasket done. I flushed the cooling system and have since done a long interstate journey (as well as it being my daily driver). No oil has since appeared in the coolant and it uses no oil. Maybe the previous owner was telling the truth and the coolant reservoir simply had not been cleaned properly following a head gasket failure. The reservoirs are tricky to clean with all those internal baffles.

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