Hey all,

I have a 1992 300D with 415K. Suddenly, she is blowing very heavy smoke, drinking oil, and I hear a very discomforting piston slap on accelleration.

I'm thinking I have a piston ring issue. Anybody want to suggest a (simple,fast,cheap) alternative diagnosis???? My indy won't do a rebuild, but he will reluctantly do a swap out.

It is a fine car otherwise (even has the much coveted heated seats!) and I really need this taxi on the road. OTOH, 4K is a big piece towards a newer car. And its killing me to designate it as a parts car.

Short of a simple fix, what I am looking for is an inexpensive used motor. Can I swap ANY 2.5L 5 cyl. into this car? Lastly, anyone have a motor for sale?

I just pulled a 2.5 out of my 92, it is showing 235,000 miles but has some blow by and was using a bit of oil. My wife rolled my 87 so with some time off during Christmas I dropped the 3.0 in the 92. That turned out to be a lot of work and I lost a bit of fuel mileage but it made a good runner.
I checked the compress on the 2.5 before pulling it, cylinders 1-2-3 was showing 21 bars and 4-5 was at 22. I got it hot when the top radiator hose blow off due the nipple on the radiator being broke. I also pulled the valve cover and checked the timing chain for strech, it doesn't show any. Thought I might pull the head and check the cylinders for wear whey I find some more time.

What were the snags putting the 603 in your '92 Owell? Would you be kind enough to tell me what I need from the '87 and what (if anything) had to be fabricated? I'm considering doing the same if I find a needy '91/'92.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

babymog, if you have a donor car its no big deal just alot of swapping, I used the 92 trans as the wiring connections are different, just flip the trans mount around 180 degrees which will move the trans back 2 inches, you will need to change out the bowden cable. You'll need the drive line from the 87 including both the trans flange and the one from the rear end as the 92 uses a smaller bolt pattern. While the engine is out change out the right side heat shield and air filter assy, it all will fit less one bolt. I used the radiator and shourd from the 87 and top radiator hose. The bottom hose from the 92 works you just need to cut 2 inchs off the radiator end. I had to couple a short filler hose the lower heater hose on the right hand side to make it work but the left one worked fine. Engine wiring was no problem then then the preglow relay, they will not interchange, I added a slave relay to power #6. I have had one leak on the trans cooling line connection, I used the lines from the are the correct lenght but as I overlooked during the install the banijo bolts are sized different, the ones on the 87 are a bit larger. Since the install I have driven the 1860 miles with on issues other then the one leak,local temp the morning was 21, it started also as soon as I hit the starter with no miss fires.
hope this helps