ALL 603 engine owners survey. Please respond.
 

Am asking if you have ever had piston/bore damage on 603 engines...if so, what piston/bore was affected ?

So far...I find #3 cylinder the most common.

Thank you for you attention.:)


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not yet............:eek:

Hopefully never, that will be a nice $6k blow up thats or sure.:eek:

Coming up on 256k with the original head and head gasket. Burns zero oil, 0-60 in 10.63 seconds. What more can I ask of the old girl?:D 5k rpm no sweat, 110mph no problem, 23mpg feh can't have it all.

Not on mine, just a leaking turbocharger (like most :( )

I bought an 87 300D with no head. PO let the mechanic send the head out and lost interest when they said it (the head) wasn't repairable. I bought it for the mech lien. (now I know why they say the cheapest Mercedes is always the most expensive one!) Oh, it has 260K on it.
We found some scoring in one quadrant of cyls #5 and #6 due to worn rings. Others were ok. I had the ridges reemed and all cyls honed w/ engine in the car.
I re-ringed the pistons myself. Bought a used #14 head and had it rebuilt and resurfaced. New timing chain. Reconditioned injectors. New lifters.
Happy to report no problems almost a year later and it uses under a quart every 3000 miles, most of that looks like its leaking from the front seal.
I have had a little knocking (not really bad!) on cyl 5 when cold, just below 1500 RPM or so. Under acceleration its quiet. Its not a rod knock, its fuel related. I attribute this to a leaking IP delivery nozzle but I haven't had time to replace seals yet to prove it. It has improved in the hot weather but by winter I will replace the seals and hope it subsides but its not really much to worry about.
My other '87 300Dt (also 260K on it!) has never had more than a noisy lifter, replaced them all and its running like new!

To replace that front seal, do we have to yank the timing cover?

Also, do bad delivery valves make the motor sound like it has rod knock?

.......No....pull the balancer/crank pulley.
I presume you are refering to the front crank seal ?

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OOOOO!!!

Excellent news! Yes the front crank seal. Just get the old one out and stick the new one in?

When the SDL head had cracks they were primarily in the #4 cylinder with cracks starting in the #5 cylinder. The bores and pistons looked fine.

Sixto
... stay tuned