Well I posted on sunday about a plume of white smoke out the back of the car, and oil all over the engine compartment on my 1988 190e 2.3 8v. Finally after fighting all week to remove the head(my first time), I see whats wrong. My #3 Piston is partially melted to the head, and has a huge gaping hole in the middle of it. I can see, what I think is, the crankshaft through the middle of the piston. What causes something like this to occur?

I guess its either time to say goodbye to mercedes(for now), or get a used engine to put in. A buddy of mine has an engine lift and says we can do it, but there is so much stuff under the hood I just feel overwelmed by the thought of this kind of project. I cant be without the car for very long, I am only borrowing someones to use right now, so I need to act quick. [B]MarekW[B] has kindly posted a list of used engines for my vehicle, on my last post.

Feel free to give me any encouragement or persuasive comments to try and get me to switch out the engine and keep the benz.