I bought this 98 MB E300 Turbo with 65,000 miles in September. I've already put 5,000 miles on it and $4,000.00 into it. This is the first time I bought a car without checking it out and all sorts of things were wrong with it. Anyway, when I first start the car in the morning, the car clanks and shakes and white smoke comes out the exhaust, in a minute or two, it calms down and runs fine. A guy at Auto Zone said that it sounded like blow by. He said if it only does it in the morning and not during the day not too much to worry about unless it gets worse. Does anyone have any other opinions? The car burns no oil and runs strong except for that morning ritual.

Thank you
Albert

 

this particular engine is prone to glow plugs snapping off when trying to remove. Be patient when removing the glow plugs, and be prepared for the glow plugs being very tight when being removed. When I replaced my glow plugs, 3 came out without problem. 1 with minor additional effort. 1 with major additional effort (it was very tight all the way out.), and the last one snapped. I searched this forum and found a nice "how to" to remove a broken glow plug without removing the head. It was still a challenge, but it worked and my car has been running well ever since. Good luck. As was said, it definitely sounds like you need new glow plugs.