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!

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