advice needed (M102 engine work)

[flagstaff]

have a bit of extra cash this month, and have decided to do some preventive maintenance work to my car, a '92 190E 1.8. coming up to 100k miles, and was wondering ... what bits should i replace/service/check? water pump and ribbed belt have been replaced already (6k miles ago), but everything else (i think) is original. does anyone have any tips? thanks very much!

i was thinking - head gasket? chain tensioner? cam chain?

 

[flagstaff]

forgot to say - i have changed the oil and filter every 3k miles religiously (most of my driving is urban)!

 

[Andy]

Hi Flagstaff

I wouldn't go looking for trouble. If it aint broke don't fix it. Keep the money put aside.

The headgasket may go due to corrosion. But wait till it does. Then give it a skim & have the valves cleaned & reseated. The later engines run a lot cleaner. So you wont' see any massive gains by reconning the head before time.

While on the subject of headgaskets. I hope you replenished the antifreeze when the water pump was changed with new stuff??!!


Regards

Andy@ www.mercedesservicing.com

 

[flagstaff]

thanks Andy - OK will do the sensible thing! i do worry about the tensioner going though, as i approach the 100k miles mark - is this the kind of thing that goes gradually, or all of a sudden? after all, if something's going to go wrong, the last thing you want is for it to go wrong quickly.

yeah, i replaced the coolant when fitting the new pump (50:50 mix). couldn't drain the block, though, as the plug (in the Haynes manual) doesn't seem to be there on my engine ... hm