A footnote to my comments and the other comment concerning connecting rods and pistons.

When we pulled the head we could see how the piston
came up crooked because of the oil marks near the top
of the cylinder.

When we pulled the piston the connecting rod looked
straight. HOWEVER, when it was gauged, it was found to
be bent. Add the bent connecting rod to tolerences in
bearings, etc. and you can find a piston quite a bit out of
alignment.

BTW, my car would start and run with the bent connecting
rod. I never new it was bent. However, oil usage keep
increasing and then all hell broke loose one day when I
was getting a few miles to a quart of oil.

In the process of rebuilding my engine, my mechanic
sleeved the bores.

Before tossing the car, I would look hard at the cost of
rebuilding it, total miles on the car, etc. As I said earlier,
I now have over 233,000 on mine and the engine is fine.

As a maintenance note, I did have to have the valve seals
replaced at 186,000 miles due to some leakage. The
engine generates a significant amount of heat which tends
to harden valve seals, etc.

-Ralph

__________________
Ralph Burnette
1993 300SD (286k + miles)
2000 SL500
2001 ML320