Yep. I was just driving down a section in town when I saw this clean looking W140 with an asking price of just $5999. Hmmm... I said to myself. I pulled into the car lot and right away the sales man correctly guessed what attracted me there. It was a used foreign car dealership. That W140 was clean and had all maintenance records from its first oil change at 2,900 miles. A clean 1995 S350 Turbodiesel. The car has just 171K miles and the salesman explained "the engine is dead." I asked him for details and he said he didn't know the exact details that all he could tell me was that the PO couldn't buy a new engine for it so he traded it in for a 1998 E-class diesel which they also had for sale. I got the owner's information, contacted him and he explained that not only did the car bend its rods, it has had a leaking head gasket for over 4,000 miles and finally nearly completely lost compression. He told me some other stories but basically, the engine was truly dead. The headgasket leak was caused by his son who drove the car while it was overheating - thanks to a defective thermostat. From all indications, this was a car that was perfectly cared for. He was the original owner and he wasn't too depressed about losing the car as he felt that over the 10 years he had owned it that he already got his money out of it. Anyway, really long story but overall this is one nice, car: black outside, tan inside, even has heated seats all around with a rear sunshade!

My question here is: can I get a used 3.0L I-6 Turbodiesel engine and put it in there? Will it work with the rest of the car? I'd hate to have to stick to that defective 3.5L engine. I might buy one only to have it bend its rods the next day. Has anyone ever tried this, or know someone who has? Thanks!

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1999 Mercedes-Benz S600, 103K miles - garage queen
1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL, 89K miles - daily driver
2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited, 31K - daily driver

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say yes! I don't see why you could not put a 603 from 86-87 era in it. They are the same block basically and they are not as guzzied up with electronic crap!

Someone with the absolute answer will post, I'm sure!

Heck if a 603 would fit then why not consider a 617? It's the most reliable diesel engine that MB ever built and parts are plentiful, reasonable and you won't need to rely on a stealership.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

I'd love to have a 617 in there of course. However I don't know how the car would feel powering that heavy W140 chassis. The 617 won't have enough power for it. I think the 603 would be able to supply adequate power.

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1999 Mercedes-Benz S600, 103K miles - garage queen
1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL, 89K miles - daily driver
2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited, 31K - daily driver

I'm quite sure that the 603.961 engine will fit in place of that engine. Basically it's the same engine. There will be some electronics issues to deal with, I'm sure, but it shouldn't be a difficult thing.

I would question the transmission. I don't know if you need to keep the transmission from the 603.961 or whether you can use the trans from the W140.

I wouldn't give him $5K for that vehicle without an engine, that's for sure. I think it's worth about $2K at most. Anyone seriously contemplating replacing that engine with the proper engine is looking at about $8K to $10K. Nobody in their right mind would do this.

I looked at doing the same thing a year or so ago. Best case I think is to find a good 86-87 block then strip everything from the original engine including an updated head an you are good to go.
Ron

That W140 is probably worth $5k for parts alone. A rebuilt 3L 603 runs about $7k, I would imagin a 3.5 would be about the same.

$5k for the car +$7k for the engine + $1k for stuff = mint 1995 300SD for $13k. Heck you could sell it for more then that.

I would put another 3.5 in it because these engines are different and the extra torque of the 3.5 is needed in the W140. Not to mention with the new rods you shouldn't have a problem. I would have no problem owning a 3.5 with updated rods.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

C'mon, a good bodied '86-87 SDL w/bad engine is worth $2k.

What do you need to do other than replace the con-rods, the head gasket, etc?

Doesn't sound all that expensive. (wait, plus the liners, or 1st over work) If I didn't already have an SDL to rebuild and a garage to build, I'd jump all over it. I'd love a w140 diesel.

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Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

Usually when a car blows a head gasket it puts water in the oil and a lot of wear occurs.

After thinking about it a bit, I agree. It's worth more than $2K.

However, I do believe that you have to price it using the worst possible scenario for replacing the engine. If a person was to have this done by an outside mechanic, the best possible cost will be in the area of $8K. So, if you spend $4K for it, you now have $12K in it. Naturally, if you go the route of a 603.961 then your costs will be reduced, however, this should not increase the amount that you would be willing to pay.

My original thoughts were based upon its value approaching $12K retail, in good condition, however, a 1995 vehicle is probably worth more than this amount.

If I came across a good deal on a W140 rodbender, I'd just locate another known good OM603.96 and drop that straight in. SDL donors can be had for fairly cheap these days. The only caveat would be the frightening level of electronics found on the rest of the car--very complicated.

I think an OM617 would have to struggle mightily to move that big hunk of steel around, and would no doubt return lousy fuel mileage.