Conflicting diagnosis and a dilemma

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Zneb

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Mar 7, 2010
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I have a brown runny sludge in my water, like mayo but browner and runnier. Heater matirx is probably blocked with it as I have no heating and the expansion bottle was 2/3rds full of the stuff. No mayo in the oil filler cap. Water level has remained OK, oil takes about a litre every 6 months or so. No rough idle or loss of power. Starts first time, even after 5 months parked up (turned slowly but fired up after a couple of seconds, couldn't believe it!). Oil pressure is spot on, needle sits at the top even on idle, temperature is 80c up to just under 90c when on the motorway.

I have been told it is the headgasket, by a few mechanics after the above desciption and had a few quotes too, however today I got told that the autobox oil cooler could be leaking oil into the rad and causing the sludge.
I'm now a bit confused as to what to do.

have amechanic coming out to diagnose it but he told be that he'd do a chemical test on the water to see if the headgasket has gone, as I understand it the test looks for exhaust gases in the water. Well if the oil is leakinginto the water but no blow-past is happening fromn the cylinder then the headgasket could be leaking but still pass the test, or is my thinking wrong?

Basically I am confused and don;t wanna go to the trouble of a whole head off, gasket change and find out I still have the problem then have to change the rad/oil cooler.

One last thing, I dipped the gearbox oil and it's overfull by quite a way, however it could have been like that since I had the car as I can't ever remember checking it although I have had the car serviced.

So what do I do?!
 
in my mind since there is conflict and doubt i would do this:

1. Drain the auto box and coolant system.
2. Flush the coolant system as much as you can with a hosepipe, etc. to try and get everything out. Keep going (remember the heater matrix, etc.) until the water that's coming out of the various orifices is clean.
3. Refill the cooling system with a decent water/antifreeze mix.
4. Refill the autobox to the correct level.

Once you've driven around for the next week or two you should be able to see if the coolant level or ATF level has changed.
 
First are you sure you checked the gearbox oil correctly. You need to warm the gearbox fluid up and just before measuring it WITH THE ENGINE RUNNING you should move the gearbox selector lever thro all it's available positions to make sure all the galleries are filled---then you measure the level with the lever in park or neutral.

VS advice is sound--you may just have the residue off a previous head gasket failure in the cooling system. This may give a false reading for any chemical dip test- a better test maybe is to sniff the coolant headspace with an exhaust gas analyser- very sensitive test but should not be affected by contaminated coolant. There is on the other hand a chemical test for glycol [antifreeze] in the gearbox fluid which can be relied on.
 
If it is the headgasket it's clearly not that bad yet (no mayo) so i would imagine another week or two wouldn't make it significantly worse.
That's what i'd do if it was my car, but everyone has different opinions of course.
 
Sorry; it's a W124 H reg 92 230CE (head so full of it that I forgot that bit!) and thanks for the info thusfar.
 
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Mechanic came. Put his test kit on the expansion bottle. Fluid turned green. He said "headgasket's gone". End of speculation, start of expenditure. :doh:
 
had my chg changed at SPR Autos Stockport 3 weeks ago, if you're anywhere near em you wont find better, £650 + vat :D, just think of it as another instalment in the quest for 124 imortality
 
Had a local Merc mechanic come out a few days ago, did a test and the liquid went bright green. Headgasket's gone and he said not to drive the car. Whilst chatting it turns out we could do a skill swap, so gonna design him a logo and "corporate" identity, get him a domain name, host and build him a website (optimised) and do some marketing materials for his business (he went self employed 18 months ago) Igave him a guarantee that the site will come up for all his geographic keywords too. He'll do the car for cost of parts only. DONE!
Given him till end of April to fix it give me time to get his site up. All in all I think a "right result"!
So, anyone have a set of 17" alloys, standard w124 non airbag steering wheel and a head unit that plays MP3's and wants a website? Go on, I'll build you a good 'un! Hehehehehe.
 
Had a local Merc mechanic come out a few days ago, did a test and the liquid went bright green. Headgasket's gone and he said not to drive the car. Whilst chatting it turns out we could do a skill swap, so gonna design him a logo and "corporate" identity, get him a domain name, host and build him a website (optimised) and do some marketing materials for his business (he went self employed 18 months ago) Igave him a guarantee that the site will come up for all his geographic keywords too. He'll do the car for cost of parts only. DONE!
Given him till end of April to fix it give me time to get his site up. All in all I think a "right result"!
So, anyone have a set of 17" alloys, standard w124 non airbag steering wheel and a head unit that plays MP3's and wants a website? Go on, I'll build you a good 'un! Hehehehehe.

Hey, don't knock it! There is more and more of this going on these days - I think it's extremely sensible and very tax deductable lol!
 
Great Result Zneb,

That's the way the world turns. I've done exactly the same thing in the past being a web designer myself also.

Cost of his time and knowledge vs cost of yours and everyones happy..!!

Good for you mate.!
 
Was it the head gasket?
 
Car's now all fixed and running well. The mechanic solved the problem is called Martin Lalor of RPL Automotive an independent Mercedes Garage in Bordon, Hants 25 mins from Guildford 45 Mins from Portsmouth. He's ex Main Mercedes Benz Dealer trained and I can recommend him he's seen the job through and made sure the car was fixed. Not the cheapest quote but quality costs and he has done the job right. So give him a call on 07776 622 3893

Not wanting to nitpick, but there's no address on there?

Surely if people are going to turn up to get their car fixed they need to know where the garage is?
 
not only that, there is no indication of what part of the country they can service., Many parts of the site do not work so I assume its still work in progress
 
not only that, there is no indication of what part of the country they can service., Many parts of the site do not work so I assume its still work in progress
Its hidden under contact us today

A1 Mercedes - Area Covered for Mercedes Servicing Repair and MOT

It does say they are based in Borden but couple the "Come and collect your car service " with a lack of a definite address might perhaps put some folks off?:dk:
 

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