Behind the White Wheel

Behind the White Wheel

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Blown Head Gasket



Les Caprices of the Pagoda "sont revisited"...

That is how I elected to start this post! I read once in my favorite magazine Auto Retro, that an old car "fait des caprices quand elle est maltraitée". So here we are..."she" was left alone for many years and suddenly we are trying to "get close to her" again...What would you expect?

New shift lever bushing

I finally got the new shift lever bushings when Bechara (refer to the previous post to know who is Bechara) called me:
"Ramzi, how are you"?
Me: "I am fine and you"?
Bechara: "I am fine too...but the car isn't fine"

Head still installed
Note the water dripping from the 3rd plug hole
Apparently, the engine was misfiring. Upon inspection, the 3rd spark plug was fouled with...water!!!
When water sneaks to a combustion chamber or mixes with oil, the head needs to be removed, maybe repaired and of course the gasket replaced. I was hoping it did not need any major work.


We finally took off the head, and to our good luck, all the water holes were intact. The problem lied in the gasket itself! Extremely thin machining was needed though.

The oil and water holes are still intact
I am still waiting to find a new gasket on the local market! If I succeed, the car will be running in a matter of days. If not, I will have to order one from the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center.


I hope the car stops "caprice-ing" after this reparation...

The fuel pump is worrying me for no specific reason...