and of course will diagnose before doing anything. The head is a different matter - a couple of mechanics have stated that the head may not be repairable if it is warped very much, because you can only remove a small amount of metal from it. Mercedes did not allow for more than 15-20 thousandths correction, according to them. But if your experience is different then WOW! The car did not use a drop of oil prior to this and ran fine. The failure, when it occured, was so "undramatic" that my wife did not even notice. You still think I should just tell them to remove the head and get on with it, eh? I can always return the used motor.