OK so this only happens when I've been stretching the legs of the coupe for more than 10 miles (that means 90+ MPH).

Anyway, say I'd be doing the latter...all of a sudden I'd see smoke coming from me in my rear view.

I pull over and there's dark grayish smoke coming from the back of the engine. Smells like a combination of coolant and rubber burning...maybe oil. The mix is too weird to confirm its oil but thats a rough idea.

I was thinking o ****, head gasket but there's nothing in the coolant reservoir to say other wise. THere's no abnormal exhaust smoke, meaning nothing abnormal at all about it. Smell included

Nothing comes into the cabin either, it's seeing it come out the back in the rear view.

Oil pressure remains normal, temperature remains normal (especially since I had it redone this past summer, it should).

I remember I was on the turnpike and I would see it...and it was almost as if I was burning oil from bad piston rings or something. Everytime I would let go of the gas then get back on it, is when i saw it the most. That same day after pulling on the shoulder to see where it was coming from, i drove normally back for the remainder 30 miles of my trip and everything went back to normal (smoke wise). When this happened, again, oil pressure, normal. Temp, normal. Oil level, normal. Coolant, normal. Trans fluid, whaddya know. normal.

I did the same fast driving on my way up to Canada and the same exact thing happened.

And again, this is only if I've been driving for 10+ miles at 90+ MPH and it's happened nearly every time I've done so, this means wide open throttle, and a fair amount of kick downs. Car is regularly serviced by MB specialist and we have not found anything abnormal.

What could this be?

 

Could still be a head gasket as the leak doesn't always mix water and oil...sometimes just weeps out and drips or burns.

 

I agree, plus the aluminum head could be slightly warped and gaps can open after it's warmed up.

 

Is it likely that the head gasket is original and will need replacement soon and how soon?

I would also assume that it would be within my best interest to not drive the car as hard in hopes to lengthen the life of the head gasket.

Car has 122k on it.

 

Most times you can drive a M103-12V or M104-24V with a blown headgasket forever without much damage...just weeping oil and or water.

As Pifcat pointed out on the M104-24V the real problem can be with the head warping.

I 'd have it looked at..dealer will charge around $1700.00 for the job

 

White smoke = What they said above ^^^
Blueish smoke = piston rings or valve seals
Black smoke = Running way to rich...

 

But those are exhaust symptoms. if you read I don't have exhaust symptoms but smoke coming from the engine bay.

 

3.2 included or just 3.0? Is there anything I can do to see if the head is warping?

 

Ohh, my bad... coolant leak maybe? Is it by the rear of the engine.

 

yup.

 

A long time ago, in a far off land, a young lad drove his 300E at 130mph for a while on a long deserted road in the middle of nowhere, and then decided to slow down as they have poor lights. He had already been doing in excess of 90 for a while.

Suffice it to say that the car consumed prodigious amounts of fuel in the young man's endevour, and he had to stop for fuel. At the petrol station, as the young man walked away from his car to the attendant, he noticed that his car was smoking heavily, from the engine bay, and he grew alarmed. He restarted the car, and established that the oil pressure was holding and it wasn't making expensive noises before proceeding to fill his tank.

While filling the tank he opened the hood of the car and tried to observe where all the smoke was coming from. After an inconclusive look he decided that it must have been oil seeping from a gasket or an oil gallery somewhere near the back of the cylinder head, and that the oil was dripping onto the exhaust manifold creating copious clouds of smoke.

Our protagonist never drove that fast in that car again. The end.

 

Check your heater hose that goes from the engine to the firewall. The clamps cuts it and makes leak sometimes. If not that, it could be your head gasket.

 

Your an idiot. I enjoy working on my W124 after having to remove 7 things on my mothers Honda to get to one part then the bolts strip out..... If things failed, its most likely because you failed and YOU caused them to fail...



BTW if your an avid DIYer with decent tools, a head gasket or valve seals are not the end of the world. Mercedesshop.com forums have a few how-to articles regarding this.

 

these cars are so easy to work on....

 

Seriously, how the hell did you remove the head gasket to break everything? Use a sledgehammer and a crow-bar?

 

I'd put money on that......sadly.



Maybe this is why I have social anxiety........

 

Sorry didnt mean to **** people off I am enjoying working on it now. It had been neglected for a very very very long time. I am going to do it right I had to take off the lower timing cover as the timing chain was broken to. I KNOW HOW TO WORK ON CARS,I have taken many bmws apart. It just that a benz has many special tools you have to buy for it. Everything on this car was stuck and didnt want to come lose I will put pics up soon. I got the head gasket on now I need to do the timing chain. I didnt mean to say it was a peace of junk,truth is I love the car very much. I am doing a compleat engine break down by myself with no help. So sorry if I get I little upset and need to vent.

 

Also I am not an idiot,every bolt on this car strip out or was already striped out. It looked like a chevy or ford dealer tried to work on this car once. I will be happy once i get it fixed,the water jackets on the headgasket were rusted out to the point there was just one big whole for the water path instead of the two pin holes. Honestly I dont see how the car was even running with the head gasket that bad. I found my oil leak there was a hole in the bottom timing cover. It was a nightmare mess,I will post pics I just got so upset about everything I had to vent.

 

It's cool, didn't mean to come down so hard on you, it was just out of "Mercedes Enthusiast Instinct" Start a new thread with tons of pictures, things like that are always appreciated on the forums!