[judgedoug]

Hi guys,

I got my 1997 SL last year and I love it to death. I lurk on these forums and post every once in a while; you guys were all great help when I had a idling/shutoff problem that turned out to be a dirty idle air intake control.

My car's always had the stock oil pressure guage, always reads low when idling or normal when driving, but never any low-oil light. Past couple months, I noticed an oil leak, slow at first. Well, I knew there were some other problems (a/c had died, wanted a new timing belt, etc), so I took it in to the mechanic to get the oil leak checked out and everything else fixed too, about a month ago.

Turns out the head gasket had blown and oil was leaking everywhere. So I had the head gasket replaced, along with the timing belt, a/c, water pump, spark plugs, and a slew of other things - totalled $2200 worth of work. I get it back, it runs perfectly, I'm happy - all that work out of the way, now I'm thinking about getting a new paint job, etc.

Then a week ago, I notice the oil's leaking again and the pressure is lower on the stock gauge! Augh, after dropping that $2200 I expected my baby to work flawlessly. Has anyone ever had this problem? I read a post that seemed similar to mine, specifically: "When my valve stem seals were bad I would burn a lot of oil and the pressure would go down due to lack of oil in the crankcase. Of course adding the proper amount to make things the way they should be made the oil pressure go back to normal." Of course, I can put oil in, but it just leaks away, it seems it's leaking about a quart every 5 days.

Does that seem like a good indicator, bad valve stem seals? I have zero experience with that; how would I check it, or should I get a professional to, and any idea on the costs? I'm hurting right now after the last round of repairs. But this car is just too good to not treat well.

any suggestions? Thanks!

-Doug