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1992 400E Head Gasket "Misaligned??"-MASSIVE oil leak

2K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  dude99 
#1 ·
Picked up a 1992 400E yesterday for next to nothing (a few hundred dollars). Interior in very good condition, only one small tear in drivers bolster, other than that leather is beautiful. A/C works. Hardly any clear coat cracking on the burl wood, and no sag in headliner. 168,000 miles on the non faded cluster. One or two dings on the body, but no clear coat peeling anywhere. This car has been taken care of. The pic is with no wash or cleaning, just off the car hauler.

I bought it from 2nd owner who had owned it since 2002. His wife had been the primary driver and put less than 40,000 miles on it during their ownership. Several months ago (a few days after putting new tires on it) he noticed an oil leak and took it to his mechanic. Was told he had a leaking head gasket. He had shop replace head gasket, timing chain, timing cover gasket, etc. Showed me the paid bill of $3600. Obviously, wasn't a Mercedes shop due to the fact that the head gasket wasn't installed properly. Developed a severe oil leak shortly after all this work done. Shop basically said sorry, did the work correctly and will do it again, but will have to pay again. Took the car to another place and they diagnosed a "misaligned" head gasket causing the major leak. He then brought the car home and that is where it sat until I purchased it Friday. Told me car had never over heated during his ownership. His wife got another car, and he just wanted it out of his driveway.

I put a charged battery in it this afternoon and started it. It stumbled, chugged, and a few seconds later was purring. I revved the engine a few times, sounded amazing (that V-8 really sounds awesome). No smoke from the engine and no smoke from the exhaust. I let it run a few minutes and oil pressure stayed at 3 (I had checked the oil before I started it and it looked as though it had just been changed. There were no signs of oil in coolant or vice versa. I had checked for oil leaks overnight and it hadn't dropped a bit on my driveway). Then I looked under the car, oil was pouring out!! I immediately turned the car off. Looked like in the 3-4 minutes the car was running it dropped 1-2 liters.

The pics don't really show where the oil was gushing from, just the amount of oil leaked. Sorry 2nd pic is sideways. I plan on getting under the car and trying to see exactly where the leak is originating from tomorrow.

Has anyone ever heard of a misaligned head gasket? Could it be something as simple (I doubt it) as incorrect torque on the head bolts? I guess the only real way to find out is to pull the head? All thoughts and ideas welcomed and appreciated.

-Scott
 

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#2 · (Edited)
1992 400E Head Gasket "Misaligned??"-MASSIVE oil leak

Sounds more like a valve cover gasket leak rather than a head gasket. Look around the VC gasket seals with a telescopic mirror. If that is the case, consider yourself lucky.

PS. The car looks great. Congrats!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#3 ·
That would be fantastic news if it was coming from the valve gasket. Was planning on getting under car and taking a look this afternoon, but my 3 and 1 year olds apparently decided that Daddy needs to watch Snow White instead. Try to take a look this evening and will report back.
 
#4 ·
Fill it up to the max, and let it run, with it leaking out like that, it should be easy to find the location. I see no way a bad head gasket can leak like a fountain. Sounds more like somewhere else.
 
#5 ·
Congrats on the 034. :thumbsup: Looks exactly like mine. :cool:

As mentioned already, highly doubt it's the HG. That wouldn't cause such gushing. Valve cover gaskets are a strong possibility. Just put a container under the car, start it up and it should be pretty easy to spot such a massive leak.

Good luck!
 
#7 ·
Seems to be coming from the drivers side.
 
#9 ·
M119 valve cover gaskets are quite hard to seat correctly due to the limited space in a w124.

You need 1/4 drive wobble / UJ Allen sockets to even get room to remove the bolts.

As has been mentioned already you should get a small telescopic inspection mirror & follow the VC gasket edge all around to see that it is seated correctly
 
#10 ·
#11 ·
Check the oil filter
 
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