Just had my '96 E320 towed home. Cruising home tonight at about 120kph on the death trap 401 across the top of Toronto when a guy passed me honking and pointing. I noticed a trail of smoke behind the car. No warning lights showed up on the dash and the heat guage was normal. It took me about a 1/2 a mile to get off the express lanes and to the shoulder on the collectors where I slowed down headed for the next exit, believe me you don't want to stop there on a friday night. As I got on to the ramp the car stalled and the red battery warning flashed on. Once I stopped and popped the hood smoke, not steam was pouring off the engine. Coolent level was OK but after yanking out the dipstick I found it to be dry. Found oil splattered all around and dripping underneath. Called CAA (AAA) and had it towed home and will take a closer look in the morning. Any ideas??????

 

Your engines toast.Blown rod or piston something may have gone through the block or pan or a broken oil line.Not good at worst,not bad at best.Known head gasket oil leak problem on the m104 if that is it pull the engine time......
Sorry
ohlord

 

The reason I mentioned the PCV valve was that the towtruck driver mentioned that his friend's Buick had the same senerio and 2 garages told him the engine was blown but 3rd charged him $10 for a new PCV valveplus oil and the cars still running.
As soon as it warms up a bit up here I'll go out and take a look.
There were no unusual noise from the engine or loss of power when I was making my way over to the shoulder that would indicate that something broke in the engine. It started and ran quitely for the few seconds
when I straightened out the wheels so they could drag it onto the flatbed.
Just glad it didn't stall when I was still on the express lanes or I wouldn't be here this morning.
Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

There is a big difference between a Buick and a Mercedes engine...

You didn't go to one of those quick oil change places recently did you? The last time I heard of a complete loss of oil, similar to yours, on a Mercedes engine, the oil change place did not remove the old, compressedo-ring on the filter canister, inserted a new o-ring on top of the old one andtightened her up... Not too long thereafter, [on the freeway] the canister worked loose, the oil pressure pushed the new o-ring out and the oil ended up on the road.

This happened to a friend, and resulted in an engine re-build. The oil change operator ended up paying, but what a pain.

I have my fingers crossed for you.

JR

 

Boy do I feel stupid!! What a bright sunny morning does for eyesight is amazing. Went out this morning and pulled the dipstick out, oil right at proper level but so clean that last night in the dark it looked dry. Started the car up no problem, just the usual sounds for a 240,000 Km. engine, idler pully squeaking, cats rattling, lifters ticking etc. After a while I noticed coolent spraying out of a fitting, top drivers side by the firewall. Put 2 wrenchs on the pressure fitting and tightened it just a touch, problem solved, I hope. If I hadn't assumed it was oil I would have had a better nights sleep but I didn't smell the antifreeze last night.

Thanks for the response and the crossed fingers.

 

Pain in the **** to post pictures on this site.
Click on camera icon to view picture of coolent leak.