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Originally Posted by Jmana
Oh trust me, even that won't stop me from worrying  Ever since I bought this car I have done nothing be worry about every little flaw. I think because I sold my 300SD which was a tank, and bought this which seems so much more fragile in it's build. And with it having the #14 head, I know that someday in the future I will be having a bad day  |
I hope you won't ever need one but please don't be so certain about that!
Aren't you the person who once used the term "Dreaded #14 head"? Well, I was going to reply then but figured it wasn't the right thread or I got busy or something. Anyhow DON'T live in fear because you have a car with a 603 engine having a #14 cyl head on it! If you find any issues with overheating on hot days OR if you find some oil leaking around the head or something tells you there may be oil in the coolant, just plan on fixing it before it fails! If you've made it this far its most likely OK. I have seen 603 engines with over 300K miles on them still using a #14 head. I own 2 '87 300D's both around 260K and both use #14 heads. Both have no cooling problems and run like bats outtahell. I replaced the cooling system and resurfaced the heads and had a valve job on them, new timing chains and new waterpumps. They run cool! Even on hot days I have to drive up a long incline to see 100 degrees, and 105 was as hot as I ever could make it go, flat out for 5 minutes straight up the Grapevine behind slow moving traffic. It normally runs under 90 on the roads on a hot day. 95 on a very hot day w/ AC on. I don't care if they have number 14 casting numbers! That won't slow me down!
I believe there were factors involved in failing #14 heads such as the Nasty Trap Oxidizer (Now that is something Mercedes used that was truly dreaded!) which cause engines to run hot because the exhaust gets plugged, sometimes so slowly that it creeps on the owner, and many owners were not inclined to watch their gauges at all, they drive around with radiators that are partially blocked (that is another problem with older cars in general) and non functioning rad fans and dead thermo clutches etc. and then there is the lack of proper coolant maintenance (using the wrong antifreeze or never changing it!) so the heads got a bad rap. Especially since the Internet and all the talk abouit it on the Shopforum.
Granted there were failures and many were at less than 200K miles on the clock but there is no general design flaw that says each and every #14 head is going to fail. Some even failed because the heater hose broke!
The #14 and other aluminum heads are not very forgiving if you overheat them because aluminum warps slightly even if marginally overheated and then they need to be surfaced at which time its usually wise to do a valve and new selas.
Head gaskets also wear at critical places with thermal expansion. There have also been improvements made in the head gaskets (keep the name Victor Reinz in mind if you ever happen to need one) so don't be surprised that having to replace a head gasket on the I6 engines (gas as well as diesel) is fairly common. The 617 was a battleship of engines and occasionally they need a headgasket but thats very few of them.
Join the crowd of high performance diesels and don't worry! If you take care of any issues that start to develop you should be able to run with a #14 head for a very long time! (provided it hasn't already been abused).