My 85 Euro 280TE smokes like a freight train but is otherwise a clean, rust-free southern car with nice interior to boot. At 205K miles, it needs valve stem seals at least, but possibly more, which could add up to big bucks if the head needs pulled. I don't have thousands of dollars to play with but I'm torn on whether to unload the car or take the chance that only the seals need replaced, which is less than a $1,000 repair. Any advice, thoughts or interested buyers? Thanks.

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Tony G.
Dayton, Ohio

1985 300TE (Euro)
1996 E320

how much do you want? what color is the interior? any pictures?

If you unload the car, the price you get will reflect the cost of doing the required work. Whether that's retail or "wholesale" depends on who you can get to buy it. If you find a professional mercedes mechanic you might be in luck.

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Kent Christensen
Albuquerque
'07 GL320CDI, '10 CL550. '01 Porsche Boxster
Two BMW motorcycles

The car is silver with blue interior. I paid $1,800 for it in 2004 from a forum member in Atlanta and put about $500 in tune-up/ignition parts, so I'd like to get $1,800. Has new tires and a nice Pioneer CD stereo. Also, it sounds like a sewing machine when idling. I've had it in storage for the last year. I'll work on posting some photos asap. Still, my preference would be to repair and keep the car, it's so cool and distinctive, but only if I can do this at a reasonable cost. Thanks.

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Tony G.
Dayton, Ohio

1985 300TE (Euro)
1996 E320

Hi there,
Does your 280 have a vacuum pump mounted on the front of the engine? The reason I ask is that I once had a 280 with a vacuum pump that smoked like that, and the only thing wrong was the vacuum pump had a hole in the diaghram and was sucking oil from the engine. I just removed the pump and replaced it with a plate, as the gas engine makes plenty of vacuum to run everything without the pump. As I recall, the #1 cyl. plug got black with soot also as the vacuum pump was connected to the front runner on the intake manifold.
Richard Wooldridge
'82 300D/4.3L V6, over 60K since the conversion, no probs so far!

I like to know what color is the smoke.black,blue or white?

The smoke is white, or maybe a blue-ish white. Definitely not black. Precision Motorcars in Cincy said the problem is bad valve stem seals at least. They treated cars like this before and that's all it was, but you can't be sure until you get into it...

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Tony G.
Dayton, Ohio

1985 300TE (Euro)
1996 E320

have you asked a couple of places on the stem seal job? $1,000 sounds high to me.

Kevin

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"Dangerous with a wrench...and not smart enough to know it"

Stable (in order of acqusition):
'84 500SL, 280SEL (Euros)
'77 280SE. '90 560SEL
'79 450SEL 6.9,
'95 C280 (totalled by daughter 8/07)
'81 280SL (rescued) '88 300CE
'86 560SEC '95 C36
'01 CL55

DD's: '04 S500 4Matic (SWMBO)
'04 F150 Crew

tonyg

do you mean you aren't going to Ross Mercedes??

why?

they have a crappy record for service don't they?

are you having excessive oil consumption?

replacing stem seals shouldn't cost more than 500.00. i paid 300.00 a few years ago on my m103.

if your guides are shot it'll cost a bit more.

do you have a good indy?

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*92 400e 124.034, SOLD

*92 300e 124.030, SOLD

In summer 04, Precision Motorcars in Cincy, which I respect, said the repair would start at $700 and go up from there if guides were bad, etc. This is where my fear kicks in: This is a job that could snowball. If anyone knows other good indies in the Dayton/Miami Valley area, let me know. thanks!

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Tony G.
Dayton, Ohio

1985 300TE (Euro)
1996 E320

When does it smoke? Is it on start up, on the gas, off the gas or all of the above? Do you run premium fuel? I think Euro models need it.

If you do seals how long before it needs a valve job, another 40,000 miles? How much do you drive it? These machines run a long time but maintenance is expensive. If it’s all about money, get out while you can. If you can afford a little extra, fix and drive an unusually cool car. MHO

I wish I found you last year. I bought a 1992 BMW 525 wagon. After doing some work on the BMW, I think I would have been better off with the MB. I could do most of the work myself.. Send me or post photos!

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Steve
1985 Mercedes 500SL Euro (Gray market)
1995 BMW 520i Euro (Gray market)
1992 BMW 525it Wagon
1994 Honda Del Sol Si

Do you what i might have some good news to you.When you say white that there are 2 things that will case it,1st coolant leak into head but the smoke will disepate quickly ,2nd what i think it is,it is your transmission modulator is leaking and the vaccum from your engine is sucking it into the engine.So one quick way to check is take the air filter off and on the left rear close to the valve cover you have a vaccum line with a almost 45 Degree black bend vaccum hose.So remove that hose by pulling it off and check if it is wet at ALL.if it is wet than you have an easy fix.
The vaccum line itself is white and you might even see some red in it if the modulator leaks.An for doing the valve guide seals,no one should charge more than 4 hours for the job,what there hourely rate is up to them.Good luck Harald