400E Head gasket

[400Benz]

Hello all, im in the midst of my 4.2 rebuild and im wondering what the reason could be for smaller holes on the gasket to the block and if it would be beneficial to make cutouts to alleviate it.

 

[natejgreene9871]

Make sure you have the right headgasket. The headgasket for the closed deck block is different from the open deck block. They changed to open deck block sometime in 1993.

You have a closed deck block based on your photo. I would check the epc and make sure you have the correct gasket for your VIN #.

What brand headgasket is that?

 

[400Benz]

It is a Victor Reinz head gasket. I checked my vin with the Mercedes classic center and it recommended a late production 1995 head gasket. The car was assembled May of 91 so im wondering if it being an early production model could be causing these hiccups. Or better yet a smaller iq than i once thought.

 

[gsxr]

You have a closed-deck block and need these gaskets, unless your engine number is earlier than 119975-000142 (which is unlikely):

Left: 119-016-26-20
Right: 119-016-27-20

Double check to verify your Victor gaskets are for those Mercedes part numbers.

Open-deck blocks were phased into production roughly around Dec-1993/Jan-1994, give or take a month or two. "Late production" / 1995 would be open-deck. Your 1991-production car would definitely not need "late" anything. I have no idea what the Classic Center was thinking.

That said - I don't understand the problem? The "small" holes are normal and are part of the gasket design. The holes are not supposed to be the same size as the large hole in the block.

 

[400Benz]

You have a closed-deck block and need these gaskets, unless your engine number is earlier than 119975-000142 (which is unlikely):

Left: 119-016-26-20
Right: 119-016-27-20

Double check to verify your Victor gaskets are for those Mercedes part numbers.

Open-deck blocks were phased into production roughly around Dec-1993/Jan-1994, give or take a month or two. "Late production" / 1995 would be open-deck. Your 1991-production car would definitely not need "late" anything. I have no idea what the Classic Center was thinking.

That said - I don't understand the problem? The "small" holes are normal and are part of the gasket design. The holes are not supposed to be the same size as the large hole in the block.

Thank you for the information i will check when im working on it again. I assumed the size was intentional by the engineers but curiosity got to me.

Thanks,

 

[natejgreene9871]

I would just order from the dealer. It’s not worth the labor risk fooling around with aftermarket head gaskets but that’s just me.