2013 C250 - Head Gasket
 

I have a 2013 C250 Sport Sedan that I've had since new. I now have 80k miles on the car. Car was maintained through dealers in the Wash DC area since new through the warranty period then I've been trying out independent shops for convince purposes.

Around 50k miles I began to notice a burning oil smell when pulling the car into my garage following driving - obviously an oil leak somewhere on the turbo side but even checking the oil I never noticed the oil level decreasing or oil spots on the garage floor. At 60k (I was doing a lot of driving) I took the car to an independent shop and they noticed there was a small oil leak and cleaned the engine so they could find the source of the leak better and asked my to come back. At 70k, car went to dealer for trans service and to check oil leak. Trans service was done and at end of day they said that it appeared head gasket was leaking oil and needed replaced. I was suspect of dealership as I hadn't noticed any issues with losing coolant, obvious coolant in the oil, or loss of any performance. Finally, at 80k, an independent shop agreed that the head gasket is leaking oil (on the exhaust manifold side) and showed me.

Just general following the forums it doesn't seem like head gasket failures are common with these engines. I (have driven well worn cars growing up) have never had a car have a head gasket failure and I am surprised at the slow oil leak versus worsening leaking/coolant loss then a plume of white smoke marking the end.

I like the car but the cost of this repair is significant (though of course much less than a new car) but there is a worry that this may be the beginning of more costly repairs. This was just a base model of the C class (though it was what I was looking for - RWD) so nothing special about the car to warrant expensive repairs.

Has anyone experienced anything similar? It seems like this mode of failure is slow and I could continue to drive the car - but there will be an eventual failure. The car still drives fine - no obvious loss of performance.

Thanks

That's a leak from the cam cover, not the head gasket....

This sounds much more reasonable - but I've had a dealership and an independent shop give a similar assessment. Of course neither showed a loss of coolant or coolant mixed with oil, just leaking from the general area...

Oil leaking is very noticeable due to it leaking on the turbo side - and smell like burnt oil.

I have the same problem on 2012 C250 just watch the oil levels you will be fine