Hello Everyone,

First i'd like to introduce myself. I'm a 20 year old college student in CT. I mainly have experience with older BMW's (e30's to be exact) and new to the MB scene. I have decent general mechanical knowledge (vast knowledge on the older BMW's though.) Okay so here's the question/story I could use some W124 veterans input on:

My friends little brother (I consider both of them to be like my brothers) bought an 88 300e back in 07 from either the original owner or the 2nd owner with 120k on the clock. Needless to say the car has become available to me. (mostly due to the fact that their family isn't so mechanically inclined as I am.)

The problem: The car doesn't run. It happened late last summer. The story first hand from his brother, was that he was speeding on a local road (yes i know, not smart nor safe) he was going approx. 100 mph When he noticed white smoke and heard what he described to me as a metal on metal grinding sound. He didn't notice any check engine lights or anything else out of place (besides the smoke and sound). So he pulled over and shut off the car, he couldn't get it back running again, it would try and turn over but wouldn't. So he had it towed to his house where it sat for about 6 months. His parents keep asking if i'd like the car for cheap. (think $200) So I figured i'd check it out. they think it's a head gasket due to the smoke but I checked the head and it doesn't appear to have any white stuff in it. When I checked the dipstick recently (2 days ago) I could see gas mixed in with the oil. (and smelt like gas also). I couldn't try and turn it over myself because the spark plugs were out and I was short on time.

The question: What could cause this and how can it be fixed?

If I didn't provide enough information or you have any other questions about the car let me know. As far as I know it was mechanically sound before the accident. Sorry for the wall of text, lol Thanks again,

-Evan

 

Welcome.

124s.
Nice cars. Expensive to repair if you don't do the repair yourself. Much like E30s and 2002s. Any older German car for that matter.

If you're 20 then I assume your friend is 20, in which case his little brother is what, 17, 18? Thats a car that has been abused if you ask me.

If you have access to a good engine from another 300E, perhaps it might be worthwhile to buy this one for cheap, *if its otherwise in excellent condition* and have yourself a nice daily driver.

Look around locally and ask local Mercedes/ Euro mechanics for leads on possible good M103 engines. Beware, there are some slight differences between those used on the W126 (1980- 1991 S class) and W201 (190E series.) Nothing major mechanically (2.6 liter version aside,) but stuff like the location of the vent hose on the valve cover.

If its not in otherwise excellent shape, you might want to buy it and part it out.

The bottom end on these cars is real tough. Extremely durable and nigh on overbuilt. So killing one (won't start, gas in oil etc) would seem that it was abused/ neglected.

 

Thanks for the response, and you are correct on your age assumptions. As far as neglected and abused, possibly, although my friends brother is pretty mature for his age, it def. took some abuse. There is a 87 300e being parted out on craigslist and the engine is supposedly good with 77k miles so that's an option. I'm gonna get it over the house so I can it over for myself.

Anyone have any leads on why there's gas in the dipstick? Thanks