cornershop
Active Member
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2011
- Messages
- 166
- Location
- North London
- Car
- 560 SEC, e320 Coupe, Audi S8 D2, 87 Porsche 911
Gents, the 560 sec I've owned for all of 2 weeks has what I believe to be a failed or failing head gasket.
Main symptoms are continuos white smoke with a slightly sweet smell to it from cold idle, even when left idling long enough to for temps to reach 60 deg c. Took it on an a-road blast on weds, with steady NSL speeds, and noticed temps were relatively low, just over the 40 degC mark, unsure if this is normal for the 117 engines to run cool at speed - they nudged up to 80 Deg C when in stop start traffic, which I believe is normal.
The has been an oil leak from the driver side valve cover, which possibly masked any leak from the head gasket.
I'm loathe to drive it anywhere now, so will probably have to RAC it to a specialist for inspection - probably Wayne Gates MB in Harrow or BMerc in Barnet (lots of positive Google reviews of BMerc, maybe lesser known than WG MB who is active on some MB forums). The PO had had it serviced by Schmitt Motors in North London, I'm guessing they didn't know the h/g was due to fail or were advised by the PO not to replace it due to its imminent sale.
I am pretty peeved at myself for not having had this checked out before purchase or not spotting it myself - it will probably turn into a top end job, as I may as well get the valve guides done too if the heads have to come off.
Can anyone speak from experience how much a h/g job costs on an m117?
Shirish
Main symptoms are continuos white smoke with a slightly sweet smell to it from cold idle, even when left idling long enough to for temps to reach 60 deg c. Took it on an a-road blast on weds, with steady NSL speeds, and noticed temps were relatively low, just over the 40 degC mark, unsure if this is normal for the 117 engines to run cool at speed - they nudged up to 80 Deg C when in stop start traffic, which I believe is normal.
The has been an oil leak from the driver side valve cover, which possibly masked any leak from the head gasket.
I'm loathe to drive it anywhere now, so will probably have to RAC it to a specialist for inspection - probably Wayne Gates MB in Harrow or BMerc in Barnet (lots of positive Google reviews of BMerc, maybe lesser known than WG MB who is active on some MB forums). The PO had had it serviced by Schmitt Motors in North London, I'm guessing they didn't know the h/g was due to fail or were advised by the PO not to replace it due to its imminent sale.
I am pretty peeved at myself for not having had this checked out before purchase or not spotting it myself - it will probably turn into a top end job, as I may as well get the valve guides done too if the heads have to come off.
Can anyone speak from experience how much a h/g job costs on an m117?
Shirish