Ok. Heres the deal I usually know what oil in the water means, but this is a Mercedes. Here is my problem I bought this car and have had such a headache. First off when the guy delivered the title he never registered the car and disappeared. Second I drove the car for a week and the oil light came on. When I checked the radiator (the plastic part) it was full of oil. You can tell the car has been hot before cause it has a yellowish burnt on the valve cover and new belts and new radiator. See I can get the title, but I am also sure I can win in court to get my money back. I like the car and it is nice, but the problem is is it busted? or just a gasket or something and I have changed a lot of head gaskets. Is this one defferent?
well... as for the yellow, i think its supposed to be there. they sealed them to prevent corrosion i think. i scraped my sealant off and polished it up a bit, but thats because i keep a clean engine bay and dont let stuff stay on my engine.
anyways, as for the water. it could be a number of things. it could be an engine oil to coolant leak. this could be caused by a head gasket problem which can be pretty expensive to fix due to labor.
the next possibility is that you have a trans cooler leak, and you are getting tranny oil in the water. i would check your tranny fluid level and see if the oil is red or black or if its a milky color and get back to us. how does it shift?
next, it could just be that someone was careless and got oil in the water. however if this is the case your hoses may need to be replaced if they are saturated in oil. are any of your hoses leaking?
i would recommend, if your going to keep it, to change the coolant, and see if the oil returns...
As mentioned, head gaskets can be a common issue on some W202's. Do you know where the car was serviced? Maybe they can confirm there was related work in the past or worse yet, aware of the problem but the previous owner refused to fix it and simply sold it on with this knowledge. If you can prove it was preexisting and he had knowledge it would help your case. You may also contact him first to explain your plans and he might refund you. If the car was a good enough deal then maybe he accounted for the problem and you could justify the repair, or ask him to split it with you to avoid litigation.
Whatever is the problem, and head gasket sounds likely, you need to get it fixed ASAP or get your money back. Isn't there a pressure test they can put on the radiator to see how it holds up under pressure over night?
Thanks for the replies. I am sure it is oil in the water. My concern was that maybe their was another way for oil to get in the water being I am not familiar with Benzes. Also I would have done a pressure check, but it has a plastic tank and say the block or head is cracked would the pressure check go the same as a head gasket blown under the pressure check?
To answer your last question first. Yes it would fail the test if the block was cracked OR the Head Gasket was leaking. Remember your system is always ubder pressure if it is working properly. You very likey have one of the two problems Liquid described. It's about a 50/50 chance that it could be Tranny Fluid (also a type of oil) in your coollant. There are chemical test kits available to determine what came from where into what.
A new radiator is a lot cheaper than a head gasket job. Is you oil contaminated or just the coolant? Also check your Tranny Fluid for discoloration.
The bottom line is IF you can get your money back DO!:thumbsup: The deal sounds a bit fishy to me.
Take off the oil cap while the engine is running, if there is positive pulsing spray of blowby oil that is bad news. It is either a bad head gasket or cracked rings . If there is milky white deposit visible around cap that is very bad - a very bad head gasket, possible bent head or cracked block because there is water in oil not just oil in the water. If there is no blowby it there is a chance it might be a transmission oil cooler leak, or just somebody very dumb putting oil in the overflow tank by mistake - it does happen. You can wish, but it really isn't likely. Sounds like a very fishy deal all around.
I think exmas55 is refering to Compression getting into the Crankcase IF there is a Ring or Head Gasket failure. This type of failure may cause unusual positive pressures in the Crankcase, or possibly the Water Jacket, depending on what parts of the Head Gasket have failed.
Good Luck!:thumbsup:
C as in 220
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