Today’s featured repair is the Cylinder Head Replacement on a classic 1978 Mercedes 280CE.
Although this is Monday’s repair it was really a couple of weeks in the making as, with most older vintage European cars, acquiring parts can take time.
Our Mercedes arrived at the shop a couple of weeks back blowing out clouds of smoke and running rough. Our diagnosis quickly concluded that coolant was getting into the combustion chamber(s) and likely due to a blown head gasket or cracked cylinder head.
Unfortunately when we removed the head we confirmed that worst: the head was cracked and it turned out to be beyond repair. We obtained a good used part and had it machined. Upon installation it ran well: a smooth running engine that had given up smoking.
There are very few 1978 cars left on the road and many of them are well built European cars. While this is an old car it features a dual overhead camshaft engine which was uncommon for it’s time. It’s the kind of innovation that you can usually count on in a Mercedes.
For more information on the Mercedes 280CE please view this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_W123
