Help, my wife drove the care today w/o coolant. the waterpump started leaking while on the road. She called me on the cell phone and said No heat and the car is making a funny noise. I said check the gauges. Temp was in the red. Blown head gasket at least. Oil in the coolant, etc, etc. What are the chances that it's only the head or am I looking at comitting suicide here? How often do these aluminum heads actually crack, or are we just looking at warpage. 156k miles, a little oil consumption. Also what's up with the water pump on this beast. It looks like a major job to get the critter off the engine. Any help here would be appreciated as it looks like I'm booked to do the top end tear down. Thanks

I have seen this many times on the 103. Usually the head will come off and have a complete valve job and oven treatment to straighten. Then the water pump is done with the head off of the car. (Many times easier to get off.) Flush the coolant system with some water and a whole bottle of shout.
You should be fine.

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Benzmac:
1981 280GE SWB
1987 16V
ASE CERTIFIED MASTER AUTO TECHNICIAN
SERVICE MANAGER FOR 14 BAY FACILITY
MERCEDES SPECIALIST 8 YRS
PARTNER IN MERCEDESSHOP.COM

Thanks a lot. What is your opinion re the block? It looks to me like things got really really hot. (Women and gauges!!!). I really don't want to invest in the head, if I'm going to have trouble with the lower end later. What is your opinion re an engine swap? I located an '88 engine with 80k in RI. This strikes me as a major undertaking. (No pun intended). Am I better off dumping the current motor or should I go with redoing the head? What are the odds that the block could be damaged?? Any advice, opinion, speculation would really be appreciated.

The only way to know is to have the head removed and look. The bottom end usually will stay together as long as there is oil and oil pressure. It is cooled 98% by oil and 2% by coolant. The head is another story, but I have not seen one crack on the 103.


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Benzmac:
1981 280GE SWB
1987 16V
ASE CERTIFIED MASTER AUTO TECHNICIAN
SERVICE MANAGER FOR 14 BAY FACILITY
MERCEDES SPECIALIST 8 YRS
PARTNER IN MERCEDESSHOP.COM

Thanks, what is your opinion re swapping engine. Is this a huge job, or am I just overeacting? What am I looking at ($$) to have the head done, ie. valve seats, valves, etc, etc. Is replacement of all non-alum items (execept cam if OK) part of rebuild?

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Jeff L
1987 300e
1989 300e

Just have the head removed first and see what is wrong. If you do go forth with the swap and don't have to send a core, I might be willing to buy it.

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Benzmac:
1981 280GE SWB
1987 16V
ASE CERTIFIED MASTER AUTO TECHNICIAN
SERVICE MANAGER FOR 14 BAY FACILITY
MERCEDES SPECIALIST 8 YRS
PARTNER IN MERCEDESSHOP.COM

BenzMac
How about an educated guess as to the total $$ for having the head done. How long would it take? My past experience with heads is 2-3 days. If the oven treatment doesn't level it out, can and if so, how much can this head be milled?
Please advise and thanks much so far.

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Jeff L
1987 300e
1989 300e