I recently replaced the valve stem oil seals on my car and have noticed of late that if I accelerate hard, foot to the floor from a standing start I get a cloud of blue smoke although this does not appear to happen when accelerating after a long period of overrun or idle which is what I believe is classic sign of valve guide wear. Also recently having been sat in traffic for 40 minutes I noticed that the engine started to misfire although it didn't get particularly hot and remedied itself once on the move again. I have my suspicions about the head gasket although there is no loss of coolant or oil and water mixing.
Could anyone shed some light please?

Many thanks!

Check the condition of the plugs. How many miles since the seals were replaced??

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Jeff Lawrence
1987 300e
1989 300e
2000 Dodge Grand Caravan SE

The seals were done about 250-300 miles ago. Plugs appear OK. <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jeffsr:
Check the condition of the plugs. How many miles since the seals were replaced??

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Has your engine ever been overheated or have you had problems with cooling? 250 miles is not much to have the seals go bad, unless the guides are so excessively worn that the valve stems are distorting the seals. The misfiring sounds like plug fouling which clears when you get going. I had this happen on my '89 300E just before the head gasket went. Sitting at idle in traffic, engine would start to misfire and clear up after I started moving again. But,.. I also had oil fouling on the plugs. Have you have the drain back galleys in the head checked to make sure they are clear. if they are gummed up, oil can accumulate on the top of the head and get sucked in around the intake valves.

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Jeff Lawrence
1987 300e
1989 300e
2000 Dodge Grand Caravan SE

When I first bought the car it had just had a new radiator fitted so overheating is a distinct possibility. I've had the car about 2 years and it's always used a bit of oil something my previous car never did although not a benz. I've heard that the M103 engine is prone to a bit of oil consumption do you know if this is right and if so what is normal? Do you think a compression test is likely to reveal gasket failure? <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jeffsr:
Has your engine ever been overheated or have you had problems with cooling? 250 miles is not much to have the seals go bad, unless the guides are so excessively worn that the valve stems are distorting the seals. The misfiring sounds like plug fouling which clears when you get going. I had this happen on my '89 300E just before the head gasket went. Sitting at idle in traffic, engine would start to misfire and clear up after I started moving again. But,.. I also had oil fouling on the plugs. Have you have the drain back galleys in the head checked to make sure they are clear. if they are gummed up, oil can accumulate on the top of the head and get sucked in around the intake valves.

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Yeah. My 260E uses a lot of oil. They get thirsty. I use Mobil 1 15W-50.

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1988 Mercedes-Benz 260E (W124)
Arctic White/Grey MB-Tex
Debadged
Euro Headlights
1994/1995 Turn Signals and Taillights
16" x 7J 8-hole (Authentic MB)
Michelin Pilot HX MXM 205/55WR16

Sorry to say so, but my money is on the valve guides. This sounds like a worn out engine. I don't remember how many miles you said are on it, but mileage is not necessarily the right barometer. Do you know anything about how the engine has been driven and maintained?

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I think it's valve job time. It would be interesting to do a compression check, then squirt in the cylinder before rechecking compression and see if the compression comes up, if it does, you might get by with a valve job which includes fresh guides.

Good luck,

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Larry Bible
'84 Euro 240D, 523K miles
'88 300E 5 Speed
'81 300D Daughter's Car
Over 800,000 miles in
Mercedes automobiles

The car has done 123000 miles and up until I owned it full MB service history. Looking at the maintenance record it has had either fully synthetic or semi-synthetic oil at every change. Just over a year ago I replaced the camshaft and all the followers because the original was badly worn the difference in power, smoothness and sound was substantial. I replaced the valve stem seals about a month ago and found in the process, to my amazement some pitting already on the cam lobes. Fortunatly it was replaced under warranty. The oil pressure is good and there were no blockages in the cam oil spray bar would this occur normally even with a good service history? <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by LarryBible:
Sorry to say so, but my money is on the valve guides. This sounds like a worn out engine. I don't remember how many miles you said are on it, but mileage is not necessarily the right barometer. Do you know anything about how the engine has been driven and maintained?

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I think it's valve job time. It would be interesting to do a compression check, then squirt in the cylinder before rechecking compression and see if the compression comes up, if it does, you might get by with a valve job which includes fresh guides.

Good luck,

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