akaseman121

Hi all. So the mercedes(e320 wagon) i picked up a few weeks ago has serveral oil leaks. I guess you would too after 250k. Im used to older cars that leak oil so it doesnt bother me too much usually. My problem with the leaks on this car is that the oil runs down the side of the block on the passenger side from somewhere up towards the top of the motor. The problem with this is that once the car warms up to operating temp the oil burns off of the cats and makes an instant smoke screen on the highway that clears up after a mile or two. My question is on that side of the engine what is there to leak. My thoughts are either the headgasket or valve cover. But for the life of me i cant see anything that screams oil leak is here. Just wondering if you guys have any suggestions

Floobydust

Head Gasket. Probably the most common problem on MB straight six engines. There are oil galleries at each corner of the head and as the gasket ages, it shrinks, then leaks oil. Leave it long enough and you will have oil in the coolant, which is a huge problem. My Cabrio is going in Monday to have the head gasket done prophylactically as it is leaking too. I call it "marking its territory" , but it's really more like marking time until major failure.

akaseman121

if you dont mind me asking what are they charging you to replace the headgasket. I have heard a few people say around 1500 to 1800 on here. If thats the case its going to be awhile till i get around to doing that project. Heck not even sure if its worth spending that kind of money on a car that i only paid a thousand bucks for. Oh well i guess i will just keep a close eye on the oil for antifreeze.

Floobydust

It's about the same range here. It can be a DIY job, but it's not easy and one must be very experienced with engine work as there are many opportunities for things to go wrong. BTW, be on the look out for oil in the coolant as well. I think this is actually the most common failure mode as the oil pressure is about 50 psi versus the 15 psi for coolant; if there is leak between them, things flow from high to low pressure.

akaseman121

my skills are not good enough to try and dyi a headgasket on this car. ha i would atempt it on my old 5.0 lincoln but not the mercedes. I know its mostly a year away but im thinking if this car holds up for the rest of the year without to much drama i may use the take return money to fix the headgasket. Its just hard to shell out almost 2 times what i paid for the car to fix an oil leak lol just going to be making the tree huggers mad with the short smoke screen first thing in the morning lol.

Floobydust

FYI, I just picked my baby up with a fresh new head gasket - $1733.93, including new coolant and synthetic oil & filter change. It sure does look and drive sweeeeet.

larryj

Is this the straight-6? If so, it's the valve cover/timing cover gasket and a really easy "fix". Order up the valve cover gasket and the timing cover gasket. You will also need to replace the cam seal while you're at it.