I have a C55 in white 2005 which has been my pride and joy despite the frequent visits to the garage. So far I replaced the rear main oil seal, fuel injector 1, spark plugs, dredged the fuel tank, fuel line, maf, oil cooler and infamous heater coolant y pipe. It only has 80k on the clock and now I think the head gaskets gone.
Since bursting and replacing the coolant pipe, I have been experiencing serious coolant loss (1 litre every 70 miles) so did a pressure test overnight on the coolant expansion tank. Checked in the morning and no drips and no loss of pressure. I then did a combustion test and the blue dye turned green but not yellow suggesting a slight leak but presence of exhaust fumes in the coolant. Checked the oil cap and it was quite milky. Could this happen due to a faulty oil cooler seal?
Please can you advise me what I should do to get this back on the road and if I've diagnosed the head gasket issue correctly or what else it could be. Mercedes no longer make or supply the RHS head gasket which means I would have to have one made/buy a generic OEM .
Please let me know what engine would fit (without any ECU or complicated changes) and also does anyone know anyone selling a c55 engine?
I just replaced my engine with one from a 2006 SLK55. Direct fit except for 1 connector at the ECU (just needed to swap that out), the oil cooler (SLK had an external cooler), and the rear drain plug is on the bottom of the pan instead of the side.
That being said, with 80k miles I'd just do the head gaskets. The whole engine plus the cost of installation and new preventative maintenance parts (water pump, rear main seal, starter, motor mounts, etc.) was $8800. The chances of finding a good used engine with the same or fewer miles is pretty low. Pulling the heads would probably be less than half of that. If you can figure out which bank and only have to do one, even better.
just as a side note how old are your oil cooler seals?
I replaced the oil cooler last week with this one from eBay: 91317 ENGINE OIL COOLER NISSENS NEW OE REPLACEMENT. The coolant loss was there before and after I replaced that so don't think it's to do with this. Taking it to the garage next week, will try and compression check each cylinder
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