Just had several seals replaced in my leaky engine, and after I picked up my 240 from the shop, I peeked under the hood and checked the fluids.

The coolant visible in the reservoir is murky (not antifreeze color, but a thin beige) it also smells of fuel and looks like droplets of oil and debris floating about.

I have planned to flush the system today...are these symptoms normal after such a repair job, or should I be more concerned- and do more than flush?

Thnx

sounds like your head gasket is bad. not normal from replacing seals. i would take it bad and ask them. it is possible they did it, although i don't know how, but if not, ask why they did not warn you of this. any shop knows how to spot a bad head gasket. and most would not change a bunch of seals without seeing some signs of this.

you could try changing all your fluids, but it may not be worth it.


chuck
--
'88 244 173K, '87 BMW 325e 175K (used to feed a '84 245, '84 244, '85 744)

--what are some other signs of a bad head gasket?

crap in your coolant like oil and fuel is a big sign, the dipstick too like mentioned, but drain your oil and see how chocolatey brown and milkshakey and bubbly it is. that is another sign.

chuck
--
'88 244 173K, '87 BMW 325e 175K (used to feed a '84 245, '84 244, '85 744)

Check the dipstick- it'll have "mud" on it, most likely...

If the exhaust smokes excessively (whitish smoke, blue indicates burning oil)...

If you've got a marked loss of "hill-guts"...

just changed oil & filter..looks good. Flushed the radiator, and the drainage looked better than what I saw in the reservoir. I removed the res tank and flushed it with really hot H20 at sprayed it with the hose to dislodge debris (reminded me of cleaning aquarium stuff!) We'll see if that earlier condition returns, then I'll start worrying.