very bad news...... - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

placo1 · #16 04-05-2004, 05:09 PM

Alon,

Good luck with the repairs, sounds like the mechanic has everything under control and you'll be back on the road with a fully reconditioned engine!

Mike Murrell · #17 04-05-2004, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dtf
You'll only have to do it once though.

Sure about that ????????????????

glenmore · #18 04-05-2004, 05:51 PM

Enrique did my headgasket recently. I had the internal oil in the coolant type leak.

I had a dose of bad luck when the water pump failed on the drive home from Mr. MB.

I did not know the vintage of my water pump, it may have been original. Water pumps last 30k-120k so you certainly don't want to replace one prematurely.

My car runs beautifully and I'm glad I got one of the M104/W124 bugaboos out of the way.

glenmore
1991 300CE
1990 LS400

Sako83 · #19 04-05-2004, 06:03 PM

was there any pressure in your water system before your head gone??

glenmore · #20 04-05-2004, 07:57 PM

For my car, I overheated with a broken thermostat, a few months earlier.

glenmore
1991 300CE
1990 LS400

Ashman · #21 04-05-2004, 08:31 PM

car should be ready on thursday or friday....

New tires going to go on it this week while car is int he shop. Rears are kaput. I.E. They are about to seperate. !!!

He already has the head being rebuilt, and is cleaning up the engine bay, and says everything else looks fine.

Alon

neanderthal · #22 04-06-2004, 03:02 AM

head gaskets and valve guides seem to be common "under engineered" components on our engines. does this mean that the parts that are used to replace faulty ones are superior?

ive been itching to ask, without resurrecting a dead thread, as i have to get my cars head rebuilt in the near future.

and while im there, are there any parts that i could/ should add replace that would be problematic (other common shortcomings head/ engine wise!) on these cars.

mine is a 1990 260E with the classic headgasket symptoms; oil residue in the expansion tank/ lid with resulting oil and coolant consumption.

Freestyler · #23 04-06-2004, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by neanderthal
head gaskets and valve guides seem to be common "under engineered" components on our engines.

It's the rest of the car that is 'over-engineered'!

My 300E is soon due for a valvejob. But besides that, the engine has been going strong for 203K miles without need for internal repairs. I wouldn't exactly call that 'under-engineered'.

Freestyler

Ashman · #24 04-06-2004, 11:41 AM

I think it is best to only replace what is necessary, the reason for this is that if you start replacing things preemptively you could end up spending tons of money.

Mercedes had a flaw in the head gasket design as far as I know, and have updated it.

The M104 which is my engine, and the M103 which is your engine, are a bit different.

The M104 generally does not have the valve guide problem as the M103, but it can have it.

My mech is redoing the head, as he feels it is necessary, and I agree he might as well do it once he is in there.

We also found that one of my cam's was off timing by a tooth, but the car was running great, so it is a bit puzzling to both of us, as being the timing was off the car still passed smog with flying colors, and ran tip top.

I guess it can only run better once he is done working his magic.

After high mileage, for things like a head gasket and or valves to need work, is nothing, Most people get 300 thousand miles or more out of their engines, and many have gone even higher with only regular maintenance.

Do we say the alternator is under engineered because it failed at 130 thousand miles? or the same for other wear and tear items? it's unfortunate too many people believe that a car should run forever without needing any work whatsoever, but when you are dealing with something like an engine, it is an over stressed environment to begin with, and as with anything, things are bound to break sooner or later.

Alon