91 300E M103 Overheated - Blown Head Gasket?

[gmercoleza]

149,000 miles. It's me to blame - I think what happened is I let the coolant run low. In taking a closer look, the coolant level sensor appears to be corroded so I never got a warning.

While cruising along, the A/C suddenly shut off. Confused, I stopped and restarted the engine but the A/C still wouldn't blow cold. At that moment I noticed the water temp gauge was buried way past 120. I couldn't believe my eyes. I pulled over and turned the engine off but it was too late - steam was coming out from under the hood.

I popped the hood and saw exactly what I thought I would see - steam bubbling all the way around the engine from the seam where the head meets the block.

The car is in the parking lot of a business that doesn't open until Monday. I had my wife pick me up and we just left it there overnight to cool off. The car is only about 10 minutes away and I am going to bring some water to fill up the system and start it up, hopefully drive it home before traffic picks up this morning.

After the gasket blew, I did start the car to move it to the parking lot. When I did, it still idled perfectly and appeared to run fine. Is it possible that everything will be back to normal after cooling off? Can I just change the coolant and the oil and try driving the car? I don't expect this to be easy, in fact I'm already pricing a rebuilt head, new gasket, and stretch bolts because I figure I'm going to need them.

Anyone have experience with this type of situation?