Hi guys,
Sorry I haven't posted anything sooner, I've had some family matters to attend to and the Benz has been sidelined.
Funny thing is, since coming back from the dealer's inspection, the car has travelled about 1,000 Km and it has barely used any oil at all?
I still get the occasional belch of blue smoke on startup but not very often, perhaps 1/25 starts or so.
It has been cold up here and lots of snow, so most of my driving has been stop-and-go, with lots of idling in heavy traffic. Not much highway driving at all, mostly all city driving at low RPMs.
I took off the oil cap and there is a glop of beige/white colored gunk on the underside of the cap - I'm guessing condensation from all the stop and go driving? I checked the dipstick and the oil does not have any of that gunk on it, it looks normal, though pretty black. I will probably change it soon.
It seems like the car burns a lot more oil when it is running at higher RPMs and perhaps also when the temperature is hotter...does this make sense? Does this pattern help to pinpoint anything?
My next move, probably after the holidays will be to bring it back to the dealer and pull one of the heads and have a look at things.
Thanks again to all for their help and advice.
C.