Cylinder Head replace or not ?

[alpina]

A colleague of mine has a 280SE which runs and drives well, does not smoke or misfire. However one of the spark plugs
gets fouled with a small amount of crusty oil deposits. This we assume to be a worn intake valve guide / seal.
To get the head overhauled with new guides and seals etc. here in northern Spain would not be an easy or short process.
Finding an engineering shop with knowledge of these engines would be next to none.
So the dilemma is do you carry on driving as it is, changing the plugs each year, and not disturbing a car that is running and driving well,
(the car gets driven only around 3000km / year)
Or buy an overhauled head with all new guides seals etc., ready for the garage to install?
This only can up recently as he has the opportunity to buy a rebuilt head from Germany (1700 euro)  head no. 130 016 0001
are these heads easy to come by, if he passes on this one?

What would you do ?
All advice greatly received.
DM.

[WRe]

Hi,
I would carry on driving as it is, looking at the plugs and valve play and not disturbing a car that is running and driving well.
...WRe

[ja17]

Consider shipping the original head to another location for rebuild at some point.

[Dudlow]

Carry on driving it. Let sleeping dogs lie.

Regular monitoring should forworn you if things are changing.

[alpina]

Driving only around 3000km or less a year. Carrying on driving as is, was my thought, and not mess around
With a car that is running and driving well.
It is however tempting to have a freshly overhauled head sitting on the shelf for whenever it may be needed.
Or is this just overkill ? how easy is it to find these heads 1300160001 ?

[Shvegel]

I am not a big fam of buying rebuilt anything.  You really have no knowledge of what was done or who did the work.  I prefer to find someone reliable and specify what I want done.

[TheEngineer]

I had an opportunity to buy an "Austausch Zylinderkopf" for $900 about 12 years ago. I did. The problem with rebuild is that there is a minimum dimension of the height of the head and each time they are rebuilt, a little material is shaved off. Mercedes wear limits are published in the workshop manual on page 01-0/3 as 84.8 to 85 mm new and max. material removal as 0.8 mm. If the head you are being offered is new - buy it. Remember: hearses do not come with luggage racks.

[Bonnyboy]

Is it cylinder #6 that is having the problem.   I was told that that is a common cylinder to foul for some reason I can't remember -  mine fouls a bit.   

The plugs that were in my car when I rescued it were 20 yrs old (2 yrs of use)
I pulled them out and they were fouled a bit - #6 especially.

I put new plugs in and drove for a couple years and only #6 was fouled when I pulled them

I put a new batch in and will check them when I do an oil change this year.   I may even do a compression test this year.    Car pulls like a freight train so I don't know if I have a problem or if its just my wimpy driving in the City and is actually a fuel delivery problem.   

[Jonny B]

There were a couple of references to the issue with cylinder 6 fouling due to a problem with the pressure modulator on the automatic transmission:

https://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=269.msg1051#msg1051