cost of valve stem seals work
 

newbie here with a 1980 240D that just started exhausting a lot of blue smoke upon start-up which seems to get less when warmed up. Searching the forums here points to bad stem seals . I live in NYC and don't have a garage/expertise to do this. How much should I expect to pay an independent MB shop for this- I would also want the valves adjusted. Any expected range of cost would be helpful - also should I have them do a compression check first (car has about 180,000 miles and has been decently maintained); any other ideas on the blue smoke cause (does not appear to be a lot of blowby)

Your valve stem seals job should be in the $750 range. Maybe a bit more if your hourly labor rates in the NYC area are higher than average.

There is a short-term solution: Used one of these high-mileage oils (made for cars over 75,000 miles) Valvoline MaxLife or others. Try this through one oil change interval. You will need to adjust the valves regardless if you do the valve stem seals.

Haasman

Check your timing chain before you replace seals.