My brother reports that his 1992 180E (low spec Oz version of 190E-1.8, ie 1.8 litre M102) has some oil starting to appear in the coolant. Obviously it's head gasket time.

He has considered the possibility of doing the work himself and I have offered to help since he is not confident to do it alone. I am comfortable doing this as I have done others including my M103 300TE.

The problem is that he lives 300km away (about 3.5 hours driving each way). Obviously it would be preferable for me if we could complete the job in one day. If we elected to simply remove the head and fit a new gasket this would be possible. If we decided to send the head to a machine shop I would have to make a second trip for the reinstallation of the head. Normally I would take this latter approach except for the fact that the car has travelled only 90,000km (56,000 miles). I don't think it has ever overheated. I purchased it at just 24,000km almost six years ago with full service history. Shortly after I sold it to my father who drove it for a few years to about 70,000km. My brother has owned it since.

With its low mileage and known history I would be surprised if the head and valves required any machining. Possibly a set of valve stem seals wouldn't hurt although it probably doesn't really need these either.

What opinions do others have? Should we lift the head, check it with a straight edge to make sure it is OK and simply reinstall with a new head gasket? Should we also do the valve stem seals? Or should we send the head to a machine shop for the full treatment?

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107.023: 350SLC, 3-speed auto, icon gold, parchment MBtex (sold 2012 after 29 years ownership).
107.026: 500SLC, 4-speed auto, thistle green, green velour.
124.090: 300TE, 4-speed auto, arctic white, cream-beige MBtex.
201.028: 190E 2.3 Sportline, 5-speed manual, arctic white, blue leather.
201.028: 190E 2.3, 4-speed auto, blue-black, grey MBtex.
201.034: 190E 2.3-16, 5-speed manual, blue-black, black leather.