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M104 3.2 Burning Oil after Head Rebuild -- Thoughts and Guidance, please.

11K views 97 replies 12 participants last post by  tuttebenne 
#1 ·
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.
 
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#2 ·
Sure sounds like they messed up the valve job. Most likely one or more of your valves are leaking oil. If you do not have the tools go to autozone and borrow a compression tester. They return your money when you return the tool. This has nothing to do with your oil burning but at least you will know if you are dealing with an incompetent shop.

When you do this, inspect your spark plugs to see if any given one is the culprit. If there is one that is wet and others are not it probably means the guide/seal is busted.

I had a '95 till about 3 years ago. The dealer had to replace the head gasket under warranty at 20K miles. Never had issues with oil burning, leaking, combustion etc after that. Sold it at 145K miles because it developed the dreaded no reverse auto transmission problem. A $5K issue in CA even at an independent shop unfortunately.

In retrospect you should have only replaced the head gasket if you never had any issues with the head, or go to the dealer to have it done. You would have a "true" warranty had you done that. I hardly go to the dealers for my old cars but there are times when it is wise to pay a little extra.

My bet would be that there is nothing wrong with you piston rings.

Good luck!
 
#52 ·
Sorry to go off-topic, but I gotta say, that's too much. I did mine for less than $1280 with machining and parts including pistons, timing chain, seals, head gasket, and some other stuff excluding the valves, oil pump and the guides. All parts are non OEM originals from the manufacturers (if I get the right English choice of word here), valve stem seals are OEM, and pistons are some high quality Turkish made. If my mechanic goes to where you live he's gonna get rich in no time, and he's good.
 
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#4 ·
I arranged to bring the car back to the shop at the beginning of this week, stressing that I've been living with this problem for nearly a year and 10,000 miles after having dropped $3k on the engine work alone. Just told the mechanic point blank--"I need you to set some time aside and really evaluate what's going on here."

These are the findings and the measures taken thus far:

1. Fouled spark plugs. He ruled out the valves yet again, stating that the problem appears to "that the crankcase isn't breathing." I'm not sure I really understood why the valves were ruled out and this diagnosis was arrived at. Any opinions?

2. "Crankcase ventilation sensor" which I assume is a PCV valve, along with the spark plugs, were replaced. Mechanic states that the car was driven in a variety of conditions for more than 100 miles without issue or smoking.

3. Compression test done, all cylinders in excess of 180 psi. However, he said once again that if the oil consumption continues, the problem is with the rings. Would we be getting compression like that if the rings were a problem?

4. Also identified a bad throttle actuator. Little bit annoying because I'd identified this as a potential issue while the car was disassembled and brought another one in to swap out...
 
#5 ·
Sounds like the issue remains. There comes a time when you need to walk away from this "mechanic" and I believe its now. Chalk the money up to experience. He/she continues to offer lame excuses instead of standing behind their work and making it right. They want you to go away. You will need to spend more money but not at the same place.
 
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#6 ·
Comments Below:

2. "Crankcase ventilation sensor" which I assume is a PCV valve, along with the spark plugs, were replaced. Mechanic states that the car was driven in a variety of conditions for more than 100 miles without issue or smoking.

Dolucasi>>> 500 miles/quart will not show coming off the tail pipe. Mine never does. If not mistaken it may show up at really high RPM's if it is isolated to one cylinder/valve. So I'm not sure what the mechanic is claiming here.

3. Compression test done, all cylinders in excess of 180 psi. However, he said once again that if the oil consumption continues, the problem is with the rings. Would we be getting compression like that if the rings were a problem?

Dolucasi>>> That is pretty high compression if true. If I were you I would measure myself if you were relying on the same mechanic they may not be completely truthful.

I'm told a leak down test is required to figure out the condition of your piston rings. I do not have the equipment to do this and do not know how to do it. I also do not know what the cost would be at a mechanics shop. Not sure why a compression test is not sufficient to vindicate the piston rings.
 
#7 ·
A member on the forum in UK has gone through the very same problem as you .All new top end rebuild . But we have no information as to the changing of valve guides , they said the guides had been done . The garage claim now its the oil scraper rings that are worn . He still stuck with the problem. I said that i would try a thick oil .Other than that its a top and bottom off to remove pistons and check both bore and replace rings. Good luck
 
#8 ·
Hanno: I will assuredly walk away, but not without at least trying to get some manner of resolution if the problem is indeed with the valves. I do want to get a definitive (or at least very strong) third party diagnosis, though, before proceeding. I had a long talk with the mechanic and was able to get a commitment at least not to charge any top end R/R if the block is indeed the problem, but at the same time am skeptical that some fiddling around could be done with the valve seals and guides at disassembly to give the appearance that no problem existed in the first place. Since the machine shop is contracted by the mechanic, he could go ahead and have them fulfill their end of the warranty, and he still gets a new job by replacing the block (if he even does so). This way he's not out the labor for the first time around. Perhaps too elaborate of a scheme, but given how this has dragged on, not an unreasonable way to think.

Dolucasi: Well, I went there to collect the car and it had a puff of smoke. Just like on the day I picked it up after the head job in April, he said "that's all the junk that's built up in the motor, it will burn off." I said, "you told me that the first time and it never went away." I did ask specifically why he felt that the rings were at issue when the plugs were fouling and the compression was supposedly good. His answer was that all six plugs were fouled and that it's "impossible" that all of the valve seals were done improperly.

You mention this leakdown test. Is this, along with a compression test, a definitive means of diagnosing whether the problem is with the top end or bottom end of the motor? I want to be able to go there in a couple of hundred miles with some neutral but very clear data indicating where the problem is on the motor. If the bottom end is strong, I want to be able to say confidently, "I think you need to take the head off and focus on that instead of the block."

I'm not sure I will proceed with the bottom end at this shop (or at all) if this is indeed the problem, despite the offer not to incur any further top end expense. As Hanno suggested, there is a time to walk away.

Trevor: I'm not a mechanic but is there any way to determine the condition of the piston rings while the head is off and the block in situ? Or are we limited to what can be assessed visually, which now that I think about it, would only be the crowns and cylinder walls, correct? Nevertheless one of my contentions was, why didn't they see a problem with the bottom end during the month+ they had the car torn down? Oil burning is a difficult pill to swallow after all the work I had done, and all the more so when the car didn't burn anything before this episode.
 
#9 ·
Now, I saw your thread and read the posts. I hope more experts chiming in to help you. This is what I would think,

1. Assuming that your piston ring/cylinder sealing were good before the repair, the head gasket job should not affect the bottom end unless they dropped a screw or something nasty to cause problems.

2. All spark plugs fouled with engine oil and puff of smoke when you accelerate do indicate oil burning scenario. The oil gets in the combustion chamber through three or four possible routes: through between piston ring and cylinder wall, head gasket, valve guides, cracked cylinders, or ???. With the compression high, I would think it is not related to piston ring.

3. If it is through the valve, the valve guide seal is culprit. But how could all six plugs are fouled with all six seals bad all of the sudden? (see my conclusion)

4. If it is the head gasket, the shop could have messed up with the bolt tension, sealant, or placement of the gasket, who knows. If this indeed is the case, it is likely you would see oil leaking outside or into coolant. If you don't see them, head gasket might be ok.

5. If it is a cracked cylinder wall to the oil channel, you get oil leaking to one of the cylinders. This won't explain all plugs are fouled. Unlikely all six cylinders are cracked.

6. Is the ignition timing right? Does the engine idle smoothly? Investing a Hfmscan software and cable might help you to determine this (see my threads on Hfmscan).

Finally, I would guess oil might get into the intake manifolds through the leak of one of valve guide seal. As a result, oil can get into all cylinders even with only one leaked valve guide seal. To test this, if you open the valve cover and plug the oil return channel (pour engine oil over and see where it drains to), then let it sit overnight to see if you lose oil. The seal leak might be much smaller without the valve moving.

Just my guess and I could be totally wrong because I am no expert with the inner design of the engine. Just my guess work, not expert opinion. Good luck.


jftu105
 
#10 · (Edited)
As was said by Hanno, you need to walk away from this "mechanic". There are two reasons why it would take a month to get a cylinder head refurbishing done.
1. You caused the delay because of a financial or other scenario
2. The mechanic caused the delay for myriad reasons.

I suspect it was the mechanic who caused the delay based on his responses to your inquiries. It takes no more than five days for a good shop to turn a cylinder head job around; usually much less.

What makes you so sure he actually did anything to the head? Are you sure you have your original head on the car or one that was exchanged by some "head specialist" your mechanic uses.

You need an honest and qualified shop to be servicing your car and this one does not appear to be the right one. Don't let this guy touch your car any more.

Yes I know you have $3000 spent with this guy but its not the end of the world. What would be worse would be if he continues to muck up your car. A 130k mile Benz inline 6 would have zero wear on the rings or cylinder bores under normal use so the fact that he is using that as an excuse should send up all sorts of flares for you. He is getting to you if you are now entertaining some scheme whereby he focuses on the lower end of the motor. He's incompetent.
 
#12 ·
What makes you so sure he actually did anything to the head? Are you sure you have your original head on the car or one that was exchanged by some "head specialist" your mechanic uses.

You need an honest and qualified shop to be servicing your car and this one does not appear to be the right one. Don't let this guy touch your car any more.
In retrospect I should have walked away when I returned to the shop a week later expecting that the work would be close to completion and discovered that the head hadn't even been removed.

I can't be certain the original head was used, but he did make a point of calling me to examine the head before he proceeded to reassemble the engine. I didn't really know what he was pointing out as far as the various aspects of what was done, but what I saw looked like it had come back fresh from the machine shop, so I assumed that what he said was done had been done and done well.

I was certainly alarmed when I started up the car upon collection and saw considerable smoke upon acceleration, but I took his word that this was merely gunk that had built up and would cease over time. It subsided somewhat but never stopped...and ever since the oil light came on a few hundred miles later, I've been seeing red flags about this job ever since.
 
#11 ·
^ Agree with Andy.....don't let this 'person' touch your lower end at that mileage. My guess is that they let the valve guides go...didn't replace and/or didn't do a proper valve job. At that mileage, there will still be full cross-hatch pattern on the cylinder walls from the factory final honing.

This is a tough call because the $3,000 spent should force them to do the job correctly. But.....usually you can't make a fool/crook do competent work once they get your money.

Kevin
 
#14 ·
Indeed. I guess part of the reason I'm so stuck on holding him accountable is that 3k was only for the engine work...there were lots of other things I elected to do while the car was there having nothing to do with the motor thinking I'd have a sorted out car afterward...only to end up with this (in my mind) much bigger problem. Frustrated also about the amount of time it took...one would think he would have done a good deal of that additional work while the head was at the machine shop. Sorry about the rant.
 
#15 ·
Stradivari, your engine from an oil burning standpoint was just fine before this shop messed with your head (no pun intended). So the only scenario in which all of a sudden something went wrong with your bottom end is that the shop forgot to put oil in the engine if they had drained it and ran the engine a while not realizing. Very low probability but even if true it is still their mistake.

Absent this, something went wrong with the head job. One sign of bad valves guides and seals is that the engine will burn most of its oil during a cold start after you let it sit overnight. What happens is oil drips thru the guides into cylinders a drip at a time for a long period.

So please do me a favor, let your engine sit overnight, outdoors where your exhaust system can develop some condensation. Start your engine in the morning and do not move it for 10 minutes. Let it idle. There will be some water in the exhaust that will carry the burnt oil from the previous night and it will actually even make a stain mark right below your tail pipe. You can actually hold your hand under the tail pipe and see the wet carbon deposits on your hand during this warm up period.

I believe this is a strong indication that whatever guides/seals were used collectively as a bunch did not meet the tolerances needed.

Will you do me a favor and run this experiment tonight?
 
#17 ·
I favor the bad head job scenario....only because I don't understand why they would drain the oil before a head job. Maybe afterward if you wanted to be uber safe to the new head. Your plugs will tell you the story. If they are all fairly uniform in oil fouling, the valves/valve guides are to blame. If you don't want to pull the plugs then the process as given for warming the car up and checking under the tailpipe is OK.

Even the best machine shops screw up or get mixed messages from the mechanic/rebuilder. Another avenue, but one that would require infinite time....is when you take the head off again....go to an independent machine shop and have the head examined. Have them write down their findings and then take your shop to small claims court(usually a $5,000 cap these days) with the documentation that proves the head was not done properly. I know....loooong road.

Kevin
 
#18 ·
I was thinking the same thing as Real1shepherd; small claims court. If the car only burned a modest amount of oil before it was serviced, and it burns more oil now, then the mechanic caused the problem. The situation should be pursued from the perspective that a new head gasket and valve job would reduce the amount of oil consumption, not increase it.

You really should locate the a more reliable Indy mechanic in your area who will help you not only fix the car but narrow down the cause of the problem.

Your defense in small claims court should include a well documented timeline showing the amount of times you brought the problem to the mechanic's attention only to have it left unresolved or ignored. What you want to avoid is the small claims court to feel you didn't give the original shop sufficient opportunity to resolve the issue.
 
#19 ·
Kevin you asked me if you can check if the guides are faulty .Well yes there is
You need to pressurise the cylinder and remove the valve spring .
Then hold the valve stem in your fingers and see what play you have in it ..
The shop will do this for you if you ask, But me i would go and find another competent garage and get back to the first one ,after you find any play in the valves..
 
#30 · (Edited)
No, it wasn't me that asked.

A good cylinder leakdown test will tell you the story if the valve guides are leaking and you don't have to take anything apart. Unless he's done the valve faces properly, then only under combustion would bad guides leak.......except if the guides are really sloppy and the valves won't even seat. This is just all weird for a supposedly rebuilt head. I mean who would do a valve job and leave in old guides and why is the oil consumption worse now than before with the same head?? Maybe even the theory given that you have a different head in there...geez.

Kevin
 
#20 ·
I tried the idle observation test this morning, with the exception that I didn't leave the car outside as it was raining quite heavily. Garage temperature was between 55-60°F.

There was some rust-colored condensate on the ground from the tailpipe and significant white smoke even after 10 minutes.
 

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#21 ·
Hmmm. That is a negative. At least it seems your problem is different then mine. White smoke is just humidity/steam. If it did not have any oil particles mixed in, I'm guessing oil is not dripping into your cylinders thru the valve guides.

This has been my assumption for my car and I have read this in other forums/posts.

So my guess is that oil is not seeping thru your valve guides when the engine is not is not running.

It must be getting into your cylinder(s) some other way.
 
#23 ·
rings would be blowing blue smoke, and likely blowing your PCV plumbing off, open the oil filler cap while its idling, if its rings all kinda crap will be coming out of there. ideally, you leave the unfastened cap sitting over the oil filler hole, and the cap mostly sits there, and only dances a little. if there's engine blowby, either from valve stem seals, or rings, the cap gets pushed off.
 
#28 ·
Tried this experiment this morning with a hot car after driving approximately 50 miles. Also of note is an occasional hunting/unstable idle, which might have affected the outcome of the test. When I removed the cap, the idle had been unsteady and a little bit of oil did spit out. The idle evened out a few seconds afterward (with the cap still loosened) and the cap just sat atop the filler hole with a slight tremor. When removed, nothing came out either. The idle also remained steady after the cap was fastened.

I did consult with one local mechanic who declined to do a compression and leakdown test saying that doing such could not definitively pinpoint the problem, that a teardown would be the only definitive way to render an accurate diagnosis, and that the car was simply not worth performing a procedure like this on. As he asked what the situation was that prompted my soliciting such a test, I believe that he (understandably) did not want to get caught in the middle of a potential dispute with another mechanic. What I think I should have been clearer about was that I was not seeking an opinion but just the raw numbers generated by these tests.
 
#24 ·
It is so sad to see how a good running car has gotten so fouled up by an irresponsible mechanic. The good ones know that you take the good with the bad. When a job goes bad, you very well could lose money on the job but you bite the bullet in the interest of keeping the customer and reputation.

At this point the car runs but smokes. It could be much worse but continuing with the car in this condition (10,000 miles?) isn't going to do it any good either.

Its time to fish or cut bait. All the well meaning folks on this site aren't going to fix your car for you.

I know this is a lousy situation and you feel like you got the messy end of the stick on this one but you have to move on. You don't seem to be experienced enough to tackle this problem yourself and don't feel bad because most people couldn't. It takes a highly qualified person with years of experience on these particular cars to figure out what has happened and to remedy it.

Honestly, if someone here told you the rings were shot, would you actually go to a shop and ask them to change the rings? Doubt it. If you became convinced the valve guides are all cracked would you jam them up the mechanic's ... well you get the idea. The logical next step is to get the car to a qualified person to find out what is wrong.

You could talk to the machine shop that did the work, and there could be a lot of value in doing this because I suspect they will stand behind their work more so than your mechanic.

The next step isn't to try to do long distance diagnostics, its to find another mechanic. And if your mechanic is as bad as he appears to be, you would be doing others in the So Cal area a solid if you were to disclose the name of the shop that caused this problem.

Sorry for being such a "cold pail of water"; I wish there was more that could be done remotely.
 
#25 ·
I agree with tutebenne except, I would be cautious to take the car to another mechanic that you may or may not trust because he also may start replacing parts on you that does not need replacing trying to diagnose you problem.

I would not rule out the dealership either. I visited them a year ago to diagnose my CA smog problem. The deal was if they can fix my problem I would pay them whatever they asked. They could not, I ended up with new cold start valve, new injectors, a whole bunch of smog diagnostics and fuel treatments, adjustments, new spark plugs. Total bill was >$2000. Car was running great but did not pass smog after the work they did. Guess what, they returned all my money, no questions asked and I knew the car does not have ignition or emission parts issues after all that diagnostics.

If I were you (actually I am, because I will do these tests on my car with the 500mi/quart problem) I would still do what LeftCoastGeek suggested.
It is free and it may tell us something.

And lastly, a leak down test will also tell you something about your rings in conjunction with the standard compression test.
If what your shop is telling you is the truth you have excellent compression. If I were you, I would definitely verify that. Do it yourself it is just too easy not to.
If your compression is really that good, that just means your valves are doing a good job sealing the ports.

A leak down test will tell you if there is too much space between your piston rings and your engine block if you have excellent valves.

I believe this is also an easy test but not as easy as the compression test. This test tells you how much air is escaping between the piston rings and the cylinder wall "with precision" if you have a prefect compression. Air will always escape thru between rings and block and the leak down test tells you exactly how much. This is pretty much the gap. If it is large then you know oil can come thru there as well.

Honestly, I do not think it is your piston rings, but if you take it to a mechanic and he does not suggest this immediately, walk away and find yet another mechanic.

But first try the LCG (Sory leftcoast your name is too long) test, see if there is access blow by.
 
#26 ·
I agree with tutebenne except, I would be cautious to take the car to another mechanic that you may or may not trust because he also may start replacing parts on you that does not need replacing trying to diagnose you problem.

I would not rule out the dealership either. I visited them a year ago to diagnose my CA smog problem. The deal was if they can fix my problem I would pay them whatever they asked. They could not, I ended up with new cold start valve, new injectors, a whole bunch of smog diagnostics and fuel treatments, adjustments, new spark plugs. Total bill was >$2000. Car was running great but did not pass smog after the work they did. Guess what, they returned all my money, no questions asked and I knew the car does not have ignition or emission parts issues after all that diagnostics.

If I were you (actually I am, because I will do these tests on my car with the 500mi/quart problem) I would still do what LeftCoastGeek suggested.
It is free and it may tell us something.

And lastly, a leak down test will also tell you something about your rings in conjunction with the standard compression test.
If what your shop is telling you is the truth you have excellent compression. If I were you, I would definitely verify that. Do it yourself it is just too easy not to.
If your compression is really that good, that just means your valves are doing a good job sealing the ports.

A leak down test will tell you if there is too much space between your piston rings and your engine block if you have excellent valves.

I believe this is also an easy test but not as easy as the compression test. This test tells you how much air is escaping between the piston rings and the cylinder wall "with precision" if you have a prefect compression. Air will always escape thru between rings and block and the leak down test tells you exactly how much. This is pretty much the gap. If it is large then you know oil can come thru there as well.

Honestly, I do not think it is your piston rings, but if you take it to a mechanic and he does not suggest this immediately, walk away and find yet another mechanic.

But first try the LCG (Sory leftcoast your name is too long) test, see if there is access blow by.
 
#27 ·
Rocker box off ,you will see if the guides were replced or not .
And as you have the rocker box off you will be able to check the play in the guides . [As in my post above]
By the way Kevin , did the garage never show you the old gasket?
And find out who it was that worked on the head , and see what they have to say about it.
 
#29 ·
A teardown? Meaning he wants to take your engine out and rebuild everything?

Before spending 30 minutes to conduct a compression test and another hour an a half to do a leak down test?

I would run away from that mechanic.

At this point other than the oil burning can you remind everyone what else is wrong with your car.
It is better if you just itemize.

As a reference my M103 also burns the same amount but I have no other complaints at all. So I keep putting a quart in every other gas tank fill (for the time being until I do a leak down test and most likely get around to get that much needed head job)
 
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