Pulling the head on my 300SD for a blown head gasket was a good
opportunity to see the effects of three years of WVO use on the engine.
I start and stop the engine on diesel and switch over to the WVO once it's heated up.

I took the head in for a magnaflux, which showed no cracks, but all
the exhaust valve guides were loose, so I ended up having them do a
full valve job. They didn't have to replace any valves, just cleaned it up.
The shop said the valves were not unusually dirty, but I never got to see
them and, unfortunately, don't have pictures to share of the valves.

My neighbor, who taught engine repair at the college level, came down and
inspected the head and the block and said all looked good.

This is the first time I have pulled a head and so have no opinion about how
a normal head should look. Opinions, please!

Jeff

Attached Thumbnails

         

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1984 300SD 300,000 miles--two tank WVO setup
2.88 diff & 500SEL anti-squat rear end

And the cleaned head.

Jeff

Attached Thumbnails

 

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1984 300SD 300,000 miles--two tank WVO setup
2.88 diff & 500SEL anti-squat rear end

Looks good compared to other heads I have seen pulled.

How many WVO miles?

What blew the head gasket? A specific event or just time?

250k is not unreasonable for a head gasket, and I think its pretty hard to pin a head gasket fail on WVO.

Just more evidence that a well done 2 tank conversion with high quality oil is just fine for our engines.

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'85 300D, 'Lance',250k, ... winter beater (100k on franken-Frybrid 3 Valve Kit)
'82 300D, 'Tex', 228k body / 170k engine ... summer car
'83 300TD Cali Wagon 210k, wife's car

My 16 year old son drives the car to school.
Came home one day and says " Oh, by the way, there was a puddle under
the car when I left school. Is that a problem?"
Water pump going out. Expansion tank dry and a little more than that gone.
He's learning his lesson by helping me in the whole process.
He'll be torquing the head bolts while I supervise.
A father/son project, so to speak

32K on the WVO, first 4 months on a single tank kit from GreaseKings
then added 12 Gal tank from Summit in trunk with Greasecar soleniod
for switching tanks. It has always run well.

Jeff

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1984 300SD 300,000 miles--two tank WVO setup
2.88 diff & 500SEL anti-squat rear end

my head gasket just recentley blew between number one and oil gally. My valves/prechambers and stuff looked great for 50000 miles on wvo. I have a frybrid 2 tank conversion. My head was damaged from where the head gasket blew though and had to be welded and machined. This was non wvo related.

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2011 e320 cdi (132,000) current
2005 Jeep CRD diesel--2.8L (138,000 miles) wrecked, insurance took
1993 Mercedes benz 300D 2.5 Turbo Frybrid powered. (336,000 miles) wrecked and sold as parts car
1990 Mercedes benz 300D 2.5 Turbo (170,000 miles) wrecked and sold as parts car

Check out my Frybrid Vegtable Oil Conversion at http://1990300dfrybridconversion.shutterfly.com/

Port it while it's out!

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

Awesome. Thanks for sharing.
I am a firm believer that VO causes no problems with diesel motors when used properly.

Poor quality petro diesel is just as damaging.

The first set of pics of the head after removal looks just as I would expect with some mileage and years. The pic after head work makes me jealous. I know that even though my motor is in great shape, cleaning up the head returns lost power and efficiency assuming the rings are still doing their job.

Leak Down Test is a great way to determine the health of a motor.

Best of luck. Please send during and after pics.

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83 300TD (need rear wiper assembly dead or alive)
84 300SD Daily driver
85 300TD almost 400k miles and driven daily.
98 E300D *sold
86 300SDL *sold and made flawless 10 hour journey to new home.