Hello,
I'm sorry that I seem to be coming here only when I have an issue to deal with rather than anything constructive to offer!
I have a '95 E320 wagon that developed the usual head gasket leak late in 2015 at about 130,000 miles. The car was losing about a quart every 2500 miles with about a pea-sized drop of oil visible on the ground after being parked overnight.
Went in to have the head gasket job done, as well as have what essentially amounted to a head rebuild--resurfacing the head, new valves, that sort of thing. Also replaced the water pump, wiring harness, motor mounts, and anything else that could be done with the motor apart.
When I left the shop, there was a considerable amount of grey smoke coming out of the tailpipe. I was told that this was merely residue "burning off" and would subside in time.
After about a month and a few hundred miles, the oil light came on while driving on the freeway. Alarmed by this, I immediately stopped at the shop that did the work. Said the oil was a half quart low and they topped it off. At that time, I became suspicious and started monitoring the oil regularly.
Since that time, the car has been burning about a quart every 500 miles. There is a bit of smoke coming out of the tailpipe. The car also has a slight miss and has also been hesitating on acceleration, backfiring and occasionally stalling when hot; sometimes there is even a surging idle and/or stall after a hot restart. Not sure this has anything to do with what's going on in the engine proper, but it's hard not to think perhaps the catalytic converters are now getting plugged because of all this oil consumption.
The shop doesn't seem to want to deal with the situation each time I bring the car in and I supposedly have a 12000 mile "warranty" on this job. Been driving the car around for 10000 miles and the car has been in the shop for at least two weeks over the last 10 months for other maintenance concerns, but without any satisfactory followup or address of the oil consumption problem. At one point, the mechanic suggested that this is normal when a "high compression head is mated to a low-compression block" and then more bluntly put it that the "bottom end is bad." This is irritating considering that the car was apart for a whole month while this job was being done and no mention was made about the condition of the lower part of the engine (although there was no consumption prior to this time), and the mechanic's excuse is that he merely "did the valve job like had asked."
Very frustrated. What could be causing this?
Thanks.
I'm sorry that I seem to be coming here only when I have an issue to deal with rather than anything constructive to offer!
I have a '95 E320 wagon that developed the usual head gasket leak late in 2015 at about 130,000 miles. The car was losing about a quart every 2500 miles with about a pea-sized drop of oil visible on the ground after being parked overnight.
Went in to have the head gasket job done, as well as have what essentially amounted to a head rebuild--resurfacing the head, new valves, that sort of thing. Also replaced the water pump, wiring harness, motor mounts, and anything else that could be done with the motor apart.
When I left the shop, there was a considerable amount of grey smoke coming out of the tailpipe. I was told that this was merely residue "burning off" and would subside in time.
After about a month and a few hundred miles, the oil light came on while driving on the freeway. Alarmed by this, I immediately stopped at the shop that did the work. Said the oil was a half quart low and they topped it off. At that time, I became suspicious and started monitoring the oil regularly.
Since that time, the car has been burning about a quart every 500 miles. There is a bit of smoke coming out of the tailpipe. The car also has a slight miss and has also been hesitating on acceleration, backfiring and occasionally stalling when hot; sometimes there is even a surging idle and/or stall after a hot restart. Not sure this has anything to do with what's going on in the engine proper, but it's hard not to think perhaps the catalytic converters are now getting plugged because of all this oil consumption.
The shop doesn't seem to want to deal with the situation each time I bring the car in and I supposedly have a 12000 mile "warranty" on this job. Been driving the car around for 10000 miles and the car has been in the shop for at least two weeks over the last 10 months for other maintenance concerns, but without any satisfactory followup or address of the oil consumption problem. At one point, the mechanic suggested that this is normal when a "high compression head is mated to a low-compression block" and then more bluntly put it that the "bottom end is bad." This is irritating considering that the car was apart for a whole month while this job was being done and no mention was made about the condition of the lower part of the engine (although there was no consumption prior to this time), and the mechanic's excuse is that he merely "did the valve job like had asked."
Very frustrated. What could be causing this?
Thanks.