There is a broken down 87 300SDL listed in the paper here at a "Haul off" price.
The car has 250k miles on it and had the head off 30K miles ago by a someone that you would have to assume as a competent mechanic. (I think that the mechanic was one from the dealership who "moonlighted" the job).
I haven't looked at it yet but according to the owner, it was running down the road just fine fine and suddenly "lunched out". It has a broken chain which has busted a hole in the valve cover gasket. Before I go look at it I would like to have an idea of what the potential damage might be so that I can make a damage assessment.

I figure that the most likely scenerio is that the vacuum pump failed and broke the chain. It is probably a reasonable assumption that any mechanic would have replaced the chain when the head came off.

What else could cause a chain break?

1. When a 603 motor breaks a chain and comes to a violent end what other kind of mechanical damage usually occurs?
2. When the pistons "kiss the valves" I am sure that it bends a few valves but does it also break the cam or bend the connecting rods?
3. Is there usually any piston damage or head damage?

I have been reading the forum regularly for the last 8 months and am aware of all the inherent 603 problems like cracked heads and vacuum pump failures so I know how something like this can be a money pit.
I would appreciate getting thoughts and ideas on the subject from other guys on the forum.

I did a search and could not find anything specific about broken chains in 603 engines but maybe I searched on the wrong keywords.

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Tom Hughes
St. Louis
84 300SD
92 300D
86 300SDL