I'm a bit perturbed in the aftermath of the head gasket replacement on my 92 300D. Passing over lots of evidence indicative of inattention to detail (cut bolt sitting on top of the radiator, firewall not connected to radiator support, missing injector line guide, etc.), my main concern is the oily sludge found in and around the exhaust manifold. The only thing I know for a fact is that the mechanic SIGNIFICANTLY overfilled the oil (to the tune of AT LEAST an extra two quarts). I am hoping that this and this alone explains oil sludge.

After cleaning up the sludge a bit, it seems (and this is only a guess on my part) that the oil may have escaped from there the exhaust manifold attaches to the head. Next thing to do is drive it a bunch and see what I see.

Other observations I made: When I first drove the car, the boost/responsive seemed off by a bit. After draining the extra oil, things seem fine (but I admit that this all may be just my imagination). Also, there was a bit of visible smoke when driving with the excess oil (I could see it while following the car).

My questions:

1. Is what I have observed explainable solely in terms of too much oil in the system?

2. What, if any, are other possible causes of what I've observed?

3. Does the splattering oil/sludge indicate that some seal is compromised? Or is the exhaust pressure so great that this is to be expected with that much extra oil?

4. Should I be concerned about a clogged cat? Fresh on my mind because I just had that on my E300D.

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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 157k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 175k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 144k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 70k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife