w108 280S 1971 head gasket failure

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MercedesintheBlood

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Mar 11, 2019
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Location
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W124, W108
Hi All

In a pickle at the moment. I currently have my w108 280s 1971 car sitting in my drive with what I believe to be a head gasket failure (see pictures).

Car was driving along fine, and suddenly noticed a loss of power. I luckily managed to get it into a side road, and then the engine just cut out. Tried to start the car and nothing, was cranking but unable to restart the car.

After approx. 30 mins managed to start car again but then cut out again. Whilst being taken back home on the back of a recovery vehicle I noticed the temp gauge was at 250 and slowly coming down. When home after approx. 40 mins, I managed to reverse off the recovery vehicle and then into drive, and into the drive way. Since then the car has now been started.

Lifted the bonnet, and noticed liquid coming out of the twin carbs. Took the carb cover off, and could see the brown oil/water mixture.

Drained all oil from the car, approx. 12 litres of brown oil / water sludge.

Question I have is what head gasket will fit this vehicle engine is M130.920 ?

I have searched the Internet and came around 2 types of head gasket for the 280S, the shape of the cylinder area is different on both as seen in the attached pics. Both show they are for the w108 280S 130.920 engine.

Does anyone know, I am based in South East.


Thankshead gasket 1.jpghead gasket 2.jpgIMG_1505.JPGIMG_1568.PNGIMG_1573.PNGIMG_1585.JPG
 
Sorry to hear of you engine problems. A few months back Lidl were selling inspection cameras which would be ideal for putting down the spark plug holes so you could have a look inside the head. Not sure if they are still available but maybe worth a look online for.
 
You can't drive the car until it is fixed, and the head will have to come off; so take it off and see both which type of head gasket you have on it now, and what the configuration of the head mating surface is. That should enable you to work out which type you need.
 
Thanks for the responses.

Any ideas on what could cause this type of failure. Temp was at max 250 ?

Normal driving engine temp used to be approx 170.

The car has been good to us for the last 12 years !!
 
If it has got very hot then make sure you get that head checked fully as well as the block. Quite often on these old cars the radiators fall apart inside and half their capacity. Its never good news if an engine has got seriously hot. I have seen heads damaged and bores scored. I really hope I am wrong.

If the gasket is original I suspect the gasket has failed between a water way and and an oil gallery by the state of the oil. Lack of coolant changes are usually the cause as coolant has anti-corrosion properties. The gaskets just corrode and fall to bits.
 
I would venture that engine is possibly a complete write off [parts availability] or at minimum requires an expensive total rebuild? :(
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Looking at the shape of the oil, you need a head gasket. Get on EPC and punch in your vin #, it will give you the part # for the gasket. You'll need to send the head out to a machine. You might have cracked or warped the head. You can inspect the cylinders once the head is off.
 
Well the reason it got so hot is all your coolant is in the oil,you need to get the head off,and it will need to be checked out,a skim would be the the best idea,at least you then know the head is flat,as posted before you send the head away check the bores,if they are scored then you have a decision to make,because costs will be mounting up,best of luck .
 
Agree with grober, have a look at niemoller.de or mbclassics.de
 
Hi All

I totally understand the damage can only be checked once the head is off. I guess it will be a 50/50.

I have just checked EPC and could not find the head gasket on there, also checked on niemoller.de , and could not locate one on there bu there are some on mbclassics.de . Just browsing now.

Fingers crossed I can get this car back on the road soon !


Will update with progress......


Thanks again
 
The cylinder head on the car is stamped 1300 161 201, and looking at similar heads on Google Images (This head is currently on Ebay) show the shape of the gasket is more pear shaped, but again I won't know until I take the head off.
 

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Grober, I had a read and they put the wrong head gasket on for that engine. I wonder how that affected the performance of the car when it was on the road.
 
MercedesintheBlood said:
The cylinder head on the car is stamped 1300 161 201, and looking at similar heads on Google Images (This head is currently on Ebay) show the shape of the gasket is more pear shaped, but again I won't know until I take the head off.
Click to expand...
s-l1600-jpg.95388


Yes that's correct think the pear-shaped gasket is for the later head whereas the one with the more rectagular offset gasket is for the earlier engine cylinder head. You will find out when you lift the head?;)
139006d1477359710-m130-engine-20161024_113304_resized.jpg
 
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Worthy of note in that thread also was the presence of narrow water passages between the bores in the block meaning this wasn't a big bore 280 version of the M130 because they were omitted on the big bore engines
140709d1485146259-m130-engine-m130-cyls-4-5-6.jpg
 
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20044103815_Head%20gaskets%20M130%20engines.JPG

TAKEN FROM
Pistons, Compression, Head Issues
Again dire warnings about not overheating these big bore engines and from the look of it headgasket shape may not be your only problem! piston height wrt deck and cam lift being others- I suspect also that many of these older engines are "compromise rebuilds " using non original spec parts because that's all that was still available at the time.
 
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grober said:
20044103815_Head%20gaskets%20M130%20engines.JPG

TAKEN FROM
Pistons, Compression, Head Issues
Again dire warnings about not overheating these big bore engines !
Click to expand...


Thanks Grober.

When I have the cylinder head removed I believe it will be the oval/pear shaped one, as looking at the cylinder head stamped 1300 161 201 on Ebay (this is also stamped on my 280S) its faintly shows the oval/pear shaped gasket outline.

I rang Mercedes Benz Great West Road in West London earlier today just to see if I could get the part number for the head gasket linked to my VIN. They said part number is A130 016 5320.

I put that part number in Google and a lot of the images show the square shaped gasket.

Again all will be revealed once I take the cylinder head off and inspect it.


Thanks again !
 
Just a poser was they fitted with an oil cooler ?.
 
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