possible engine failure

I recently purchase a 300E 1992 MB. It was religiously serviced by a Mercedes Benz dealer. Well in 1000 miles I have lost 2 quarts of oil. I went to check the coolant in the reservoir and noticed an oil black lining in there. Will I be talking about a new engine here or what? Can you offer any help? Thanks

[blackmercedes]

Instead of replacing the entire engine, you should investigate the possibility of simply replacing the head gasket. The M103 bootom ends last a very long time and you'd be wasting money by replacing the entire engine.

[stevebfl]

Well the two quarts probably aren't in your radiator. A teaspons worth makes a mess.

You are probably burning the oil through valve guide oil seals, but that engine is known for some cross gasket oil leaks. Sometimes they just cross to the outside of the motor and sometimes they pass a coolant passage on the way. They do make messes. Two quarts of oil will make one huge mess, so it should be obvious if the two quarts were leaked or burned.

I would find where its going before figuring what to do.

Does mercedes make any kind of flush to clean out the cooling system once the problem is fixed?

[sixto]

The MB procedure calls for a deoiling flush, I don't know if there's an MB branded cleaner but dishwashing soap works about as well, then a descaling flush with citric acid that's available with an MB part number, but again commercially available citric acid can be substituted.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL