Good Morning
Yesterday my wife and I are cruising up I 15 N 20 mi south of Provo, UT (currently on vacation) in our 87 300tdt when I look in the rear veiw and notice a plume of smoke coming out behind us. I look down and the temp gauge is off the charts... past the red 120+ mark. I immediately shut down and rolled to the side. white smoke continued to ooze from exhaust for a minute or so.

We have had some issues with the car getting warm (110 is really the hottest) on hills so I replaced the thermostat (didnt help) and the auxillary fan switch (helped). Otherwise been a great car (225,000 mi) for us. I looked at everything and found coolant overflow reservior empty, oil splattered on the pass side engine block, turbo, turbo oil lines, engne mount etc, and drops of coolant hanging around. Where this is coming from, I cant determine.

Per the forum recommendation on shops, we had it towed to max's mercedes and am going over there this morning to get the bad news. To me it sounds like a blown head. Any other opinions? how much time and $ to fix (shop vs home) ? Is this a DIY (I have most common tools). I know these 603s are notorious for head problems. what has been the best solution (cast iron replacement? ).

Thanks
Eric

bump

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I like cars.

The shop will attempt to convince you that a new head is required to the tune of $3.5K or so.

This may be true........it may not be true. But, the shop can't know until the head is removed. The cost and time required to do this in a remote location is prohibitive.

The cause of the overheat must be located. Possible belt failure (but, you'd have noticed this), possible low on coolant (which you may not have noticed).

If no cause can immediately be determined, then fill the engine with coolant and fill the crankcase with oil and start it up. It may not run perfectly well, however, take it for a 20 mile drive. If the performance is acceptable (and it doesn't need to be perfect) you can continue to drive it. It's certainly possible to drive a 603 for months with a cracked head or a blown head gasket. However, you'll begin to see symptoms of oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil. It's not something you wish to continue indefinitely.

Bring the vehicle home.........and don't push it too hard........and deal with it on your own terms.

I've used Silver Solder (liquid) for a blown head gasket. Got quite a few miles out of it. Not sure if this will help your situation or a cracked head.

Just as a contributing thought this #18 head is back on ebay again with one day left.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=150035974237&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AVRI

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BENZ THERE DONE THAThttp://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...c/progress.gif
15 VW Passat TDI
00 E420
98 E300 DT
97 E420 Donor Car - NEED PARTS? PM ME!
97 S500
97 E300D
86 Holden Jackaroo Turbo D
86 300SDL
(o\|/o)

If the head is trashed I'd check with riethoven as he's about to engage in installing an aftermarket non OEM 603 head from a Spanish fabricator.

Sounds like a better shot than the cracked head on ebay and seeing that it still has 0 bids will be back again. Also check car-part.com . Great site IMO. Lots of 'call for price' but at least it tells you where the parts are.

__________________
1982 300TD 210K miles ("The Replacement" aka "The Anvil") - SOLD
1979 300SD 245K miles (never ending project)
2007 Pinarello F3:13
1995 Ducati 916 (SOLD, sniff)
1999 Ducati 900SSie (SOLD)

Fill it with water and have it pressure tested. Possibly ruptured hose? head gasket failure usually is a "result" not a cause for overheating. Car overheats, continues to be driven then head gasket fails because of overheating. Could be weak pressure cap. how old is it?

Whats the latest info..........I am in Provo


bennett

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81' 240d 4 spd 140k on the clock

Thanks everyone for your info. Just got back from the shop. Max says he can take a look at it tomorrow to see if the head is cracked, etc. He quoted me 1500 for new gaskets, resurfacing valves, resurfacing head and labor. Sound ok? Should I have new prechambers put in or the old ones resurfaced/cleaned/bead blasted?

If its cracked, I will probably try to just transport the car back home to fix it myself. From what I have seen here and doing some searching 2k is about the going rate for a new head (just the part).

We have a rental car now... what a piece.

thanks again for all the input, BTW AAA plus pulled us out on this one towing us 70 miles to this shop.... definitely worth it in my opinon.

Eric

You've got no better than a 50-50 chance of no crack and even if not cracked, you risk the head out of flat by too great an amount to resurface.

You'll be into the shop for $500-$600 just to take it down, and another large expense to ship it home.

Take my original advice.

I second Brian's advice. If that doesn't work, rent a U-Haul van and trailer and trailer it home.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Just curious is the shop located near heber city?

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81 240d

If cracked, definitely do it yourself if you can, otherwise you'll be reminded yet again why you never let the random roadside shops touch your car (either for money or bad job or both).

You car has a lot of miles on it so I would also discourage you from going brand new on the head ($1800 bare if I remember correctly). Either look into Spanish option, or there's 3 on car-part.com that are advertised as usable. Make sure you get a gurantee that the head is not cracked and can be resurfaced within MB specs. First one I got was not and had to be sent back for full refund.

__________________
1982 300TD 210K miles ("The Replacement" aka "The Anvil") - SOLD
1979 300SD 245K miles (never ending project)
2007 Pinarello F3:13
1995 Ducati 916 (SOLD, sniff)
1999 Ducati 900SSie (SOLD)

This $1,500.00 quote is the price to have the crack repaired and the car put back together, right? If you can afford it, and the engine was using no oil or acceptable amounts of oil and you like the car, get it fixed. $1,500.00 isn't bad if you have the money and can have it done. The tow trip of 70 miles cost about 3 or 4 hundred dollars to somebody, insurance company, probably, but mentioned just to put things in perspective. Anyway, if you want to learn about OM603 engines, now is your opportunity for a "great" education. For $1,500.00, you probably could get two practice shots out of it doing it yourself (one shot to mess it up and the other to get it right the next time). The mechanic will probably guarantee the head for 30 days, maybe 90 days, if he does the work. Anything more than that has to be counted as a blessing. So you have to weigh the whole situation. It could cost you $600.00 to get the car back home, which could be used as part of the cost to fix it. Anyway, you have a rental car and are not standing on the side of the highway anymore with your Mercedes Benz smoking and hot. And if you don't have a lot of time to fool around trying to get an education on these OM603 engines, then put it on a card and see if you can get a good warranty from the mechanic on the repaired cracked head (maybe six months). There's a place in Columbus, MS called Cylinder Heads or something similar that says they can fix that crack for about $300.00 or so, provided all that is needed is to repair the crack and replace the seat and regrind the valves and resurface the face of the head, which is tantamount to a head valve job. Valve seals are extra, I think. Anyway, you have a great opportunity to make a lot of decisions deciding how you want to tackle the problem. Also, plan for the worst! What you described, you will not have much luck. I think if only a cracked head on this, you are fortunate.

BenzDiesel

Thanks for all the input, I really appreciate it. 62bhp... the shop is near downtown SLC around 1700 South and Main. I have been impressed and comfortable with Max's level of honesty and information. He says, as everyone on here so far that there is no way to tell what level the damage is until we look in there. So that is the plan for now.

I had to leave to come to a job interview in Bozeman, MT and will be going back to SLC next weekend to do something with the car depending on what the outcome is today and tomorrow. If the car is fixable, I will most likely be towing it back to CO to work on.

Given that this happened on our drive from vaction to the job interview we didnt have much time to work with and this seems like the best path for now.

Thanks again for all the input and information it has been very helpful.
Eric