92 300CE

1/10/02

Hello, Jon!

Oh, I have been touched by an angel -- you. My mechanic friend back home in Pennsylvania just turned me on to your site. Before I left northeast PA for LA in my '91 300CE (with only 54,000 miles on the car, believe it or not), Donny checked out the car for me. He did notice a slight oil leak but hoped it would not grow on me much in the future, so he chose not to repair.

By Nashville I realized I needed a balance/rotate. On my way out of the driveway afterwards, I heard a familiar rattle. It was either gonna be a loose heat shield, or the honeycomb rattle inside the catalytic converter. The latter was replaced free of charge by the used car dealer in Philadelphia right after I bought the car. The Nashville garage believed the rattle is again the converter!

Issue #1: How can that BE?? I need a second new converter? If so, how much should I pay to replace it again? Do you think the used car dealer in Philly should pay for the work because the one he put in is now defective? He did the work sometime in autumn; I would have to check, but it was around 54,000 miles (I bought the car at 50,000 with a 3,000-mile warranty).

Issue #2: When Nashville was checking the source of the rattle, they discovered oil all over beneath the car. They think it's the head gasket. I went on my way, having been advised to check the oil, of course, each time I gassed up. In Dallas the marker was halfway between minimum and maximum. I added 1/2 qt. to maximum. By El Paso the marker was down to halfway again. In LA I took her in to a garage, and the mechanic explained the entire head gasket scenario, saying that no doubt the head would have to be re-surfaced, etc. He said he would do the entire job for $2,000, and that he would need the car for a week.

Meanwhile, I phoned an LA Mercedes service shop. They said, too, without seeing the car, that it would indeed cost 2 to 3 thousand dollars. They will give me 10% off if I go in by Monday (tomorrow).

Jon, of course with the catalytic converter, head gasket leak, and other things (need brake rotor and pad work, and according to the LA garage, shocks) -- plus the fact that I had to spend almost a grand before leaving PA (distrib. cap and rotor, seatbelt repair which didn't work and had to be disabled, new coolant cap, vacuum leak re heater, cost of diagnosis at Mercedes service, new drive belt -- thank God Donny caught that when Mercedes did not) -- well, I just can't afford the gasket and converter work right now, having just relocated and all.

So do you have any money-saving suggestions? The second indie garage nearby is going to change my oil for me tomorrow morning, and I thought I would ask him to clean off the bottom so we could see how big the leak is? And he muttered something about maybe being able to seal the leak for me; he advised against doing the bigger job, talked about "gluing" something or other.

As for the catalytic converter rattle, if I can't get funds from the used car dealer, is there some measure to stop the rattle without having to replace the converter?

Issue #3: Is there any legal recourse with the used car dealer? Every mechanic tells me he must have known about the head gasket (he had perfectly cleaned everything under the hood; it was spotless when I bought it). Aren't there laws about truth in selling, certification, etc.? Esp. since I had faxed him that I wanted the head gasket checked out before I bought the car because I had read at Carfax.com that 300CEs have problems with the head gasket.

If I do go ahead and get the head gasket work done, should I just state that I will pay $900 and look for someone who will do it for that? (You advised someone on your site that it should cost $900 -- and Carfax I think mentioned $750; so where's this "two or three thousand" coming from??)

Whoa, I've given you a lot of info and questions. I apologize. But I do love my 300CE (the appearance is sterling!) and want to keep it running -- must! because I have $300/month car payments for 54 total months (51 to go). BTW, I paid Kelley Blue Book price for the car, $17K, which I now hear was way too high.

What do you think I could have paid? As I said, the appearance was perfect inside and out, and it had only 50,000 certified miles.

Thanks, Jon!

Julie

Sounds to me like you got ripped off. There is no way that a car with 50k needs all that work. Someone down the road has either set the miles back or disconnected the odometer for a while. Did you get the maintenance books with the car showing at least one oil change per year. Yes the headgaskets do leak, Yes the gasket was leaking when you bought the car. Yes the place that sold it to you knew about it. No the catalytic converter should not rattle after being replaced, the cats on your car come as a complete header pipe assembly. You should be able to see the complete new pipes from the middle of the car forward. These assemblies area very pricey, an aftermarket one should cost you about 900.00. As for the cost of the gasket change, these garages are going to want to change valves and stem seals and guides and things, don't let them, ask for the gasket only. If when the valve cover is removed and it is all grungy underneath then, it missed many oil changes and two it may need some machine work depending on how many miles are really on it. I would call the place you bought it from and threaten them a little, no place likes to hear from the Sec.of State or the Better Business Association. Maybe they will cough up some money. With all the things that your car needs you should have gotten the car for a price so that you could have had them fixed, brakes exhaust, headgasket and a major service could run you 2 to 3k. It always pays to have a prepurchase inspection. I hope things work out. Let me know what happens next and if I can help. JON

Hi Jon,

Thought you might like to hear that a worker at Jiffy Lube gave me the name of a mechanic friend of his girlfriend, and I am getting the oil leak repair done by him on Thursday. Unlike the others, he said the work would be less than $1,000, and that he'd have the car for only 2 or 3 days, not the week the others demanded; and he even said he would drive me back to my apartment when I deliver my car! He is familiar with the 300CE, has seen several of them and has dealt with the head gasket problem. He says usually the problem is just in the front of the head, curving around. And he agreed with you that my rattle can not be the catalytic converter. He's going to check out the entire car for me. So now I can breathe again. I could tell by the guy's eyes that he is for real. Like you. Thanks again, and I'll keep you posted.

By the way, I have a complaint form coming from the Penn. State Attorney General's office. I think I'll try dealing with my used car dealer and try to get at least a little rebate or something from him.

Thanks,

Julie

That is really good news. The front U-seal is a leaker, but I find that after so many years it pays just to have the head gasket done, at the same time you get the u-seal in front any way. People get mad when they spend a few hundred on the useal and then find out they need a head gasket. Make sure your tech friend does not use silicone to seal the U-seal. He may have something he likes to use, I use Loctite 515. Keep me posted JON

Hi Jon,

Here's an update on my 91 300CE. I found a great place in Burbank. Advance Auto Care on Glenoaks Boulevard. The guy's name is Razmik, or Raz (Rahz).

Head gasket fixed, along with valve cover gasket (timing chain cover). I had faxed him your suggestion to use Loctite, not silicone sealant. He looked up the parts number, which ended up matching the part which came in, but it is indeed silicone. It is what was recommended.

The cost was $1200. First he thought $1000, but he didn't realize it was a 24-valve (I guess?) engine. For the $1200 I got new oil, new anti-freeze, new spark plugs; and he didn't charge me for a new switch for driver's control of rear window.

I also got a front brake job -- pads, rotors, sensors -- for about $250.

Next: the rattle. Razmik agreed with you that it isn't the catalytic converter. He tightened the heat shield, as did my friend back in Pennsylvania. Raz said that if it rattled again, he could permanently weld it. Please let me know what you think about that. I'm just so relieved that it at least looks as if it's not the catalytic converter. Yet why did the used car dealer who sold me the car say it WAS? He and two other places said it is the mesh honeycomb "screen" rattling inside there. (By the way, Raz said the catalytic converter replacement by the used car dealer was aftermarket.)

I just had a phone call from the original owner of the car. I had written him for the history of the car. He had his assistant phone to say that he sold it at 37,000 miles, and that it had regular oil changes every 2500 or 3000 miles. The assistant remembers taking the car in for regular service. The previous owner says all the service documentation was with the car when he traded. No oil leak was ever noticed. He traded it in Christmas Eve 1999 for an SUV for his family; now he regrets not having turned it over to his mother because he loved the car!

So, Jon, how does a one-owner car go from 37,000 to 50,000 miles? Was it during those 13,000 mystery miles that someone didn't change the oil and maybe blew a gasket? Raz concluded that the current 58,000 reflects the true mileage, from his inspection. He says this model simply has head gasket problems. That confirms Carfax.Com.

Don't forget to answer my question about permanently welding the heat shield.

Thanks!

Julie