OM617 head gasket failure - pictures - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

panZZer · #1 04-01-2011, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orv

Maybe this is common sense, but make sure you get ALL the spilled liquid out of the blind holes for the head bolts. Otherwise they will hydrolock and strip the threads when you tighten them.

Change the oil immediately after the head reinstallation. It's almost impossible to do one on any engine without getting a little antifreeze in the oil, and it will quickly turn acidic and eat your bearings.

Drain the block first before doing anything else

leathermang · #2 04-01-2011, 02:28 PM

This has been talked about before..
but on the holes in the block ( all ,not just the main head bolts,there are 3 or 4 smaller ones too I believe )... should have nice new clean taps run into them..
THIS IS CRUCIAL FOR GETTING CORRECT TORQUE READINGS AND GOOD EVEN SEAL ON THE HEAD GASKET...
Torquing bolts is just an interpolation between the resistance measured by the torque wrench and the amount of ' pull down' the engineers want to have on the head..
Thus all the holes need to be absolutely clean ...no nothing else...and newly cleaned threads......
If there is stuff in the block holes (even just corrosion ).... one way to help it out is to put wax on the tap... and I believe a spiral ' gun tap' design may help on that ( subject to revision )... normal procedure for cleaning out a hole uses TWO taps... the regular one...and a Bottoming one... so if you do it right you will have some tedious but well worth it time on those block holes..

bgiovan · #3 04-01-2011, 02:54 PM

Sounds like I need to buy more tools... :-) Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated!

bgiovan · #4 04-01-2011, 03:50 PM

I've had both the coolant and oil drain plugs off for over a month so I hope by now it's dry. Am I missing something?

Orv · #5 04-01-2011, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgiovan

I've had both the coolant and oil drain plugs off for over a month so I hope by now it's dry. Am I missing something?

If you're lucky it might be totally dry, but I've never seen an engine come apart without finding some trapped coolant in the head, so you'll probably have a bit of a mess to clean up regardless.

leathermang · #6 04-01-2011, 05:04 PM

Since we are ranging far and wide in this thread..
let me point out that in the old days doing a rebuild on an engine involved AS STANDARD PROCEDURE Vatting it... hot caustic fluid ... then cleaning that off...
All plugs were taken out of the engine first... including the ' freeze plugs'....
This allowed all that crud which accumulates at the place farthest from the water pump where the flow slows down and makes turns to be gotten out... this is in the coolant jacket at the lowest area towards the back of the car...
This seldom happens to our old MB engines as far as I can tell from the descriptions of overhaul jobs... they are heavy... and it just does not happen often.. so many people wind up with what they think of as new engines... but which do not cool as they should... they blame all sorts of other things thinking the parts which were rebuilt or the way they were adjusted is the problem... when it was just not going deep enough with the cleaning process before starting back up..

So at the very least... if you have a chance... take off the freeze plugs.... find a power washer and a shop vac which can pick up liquids... and do a power wash down in that cavity... it will probably take a bent nozzle...and a bent pickup on the vacuum..
you can not just power wash because the water will fill up almost instantly and you will not get the power effect to loosen that sediment... unless you keep the ' used' water pulled out with the vacuum....
Remember that cleaning the oil passages to the oil squirters on turbo engines can only be done by taking out the sealing balls in the back of the engine and running a cleaning rod into them...

pyrojoe22 · #7 02-22-2012, 12:08 AM

So today I found that my water wasn't coming out of my engine. I have the engine on a stand and my coolant lines running to a 2gal bucket (the lines are just vinyl tubing). I thought maybe the kink in the line was preventing water from coming out but that didn't really make sense. So now I'm thinking I have a faulty thermostat. Anyways, I noticed shortly after that on the rear passenger side of the engine, I have what I think is oil (but could potentially be water) coming out from the head gasket. Anyone ever see this? And now I'm just wondering if I should pull the whole head back off and replace the gasket.

One more thing to add, when my box came from peachparts, things were in there so that my head gasket was folded over and had a nice crease. My buddy who has rebuilt a few engines said it should be fine, but maybe it also has something to do with my dilemma?

whunter · #8 02-22-2012, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pyrojoe22

So today I found that my water wasn't coming out of my engine. I have the engine on a stand and my coolant lines running to a 2gal bucket (the lines are just vinyl tubing). I thought maybe the kink in the line was preventing water from coming out but that didn't really make sense. So now I'm thinking I have a faulty thermostat. Anyways, I noticed shortly after that on the rear passenger side of the engine, I have what I think is oil (but could potentially be water) coming out from the head gasket. Anyone ever see this? And now I'm just wondering if I should pull the whole head back off and replace the gasket.

One more thing to add, when my box came from peachparts, things were in there so that my head gasket was folded over and had a nice crease. My buddy who has rebuilt a few engines said it should be fine, but maybe it also has something to do with my dilemma?

Your friend is mistaken.

The head gasket was damaged in shipping, and should not have been used.
Call "Phil", explain what has happened.

.

whunter · #9 03-10-2013, 11:38 PM

Here is another cracked OM617 cylinder head, please note the rough/pebbled (cavitation eroded) metal surface.

Symptom: Persistent mystery overheating problem.
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whunter · #10 09-26-2013, 12:31 PM

to answer a members question.
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whunter · #11 03-22-2024, 02:29 PM

Recycled
to answer a members question.

whunter · #12 05-29-2024, 09:11 PM

Recycled to answer a phone call question.

Please don't ignore coolant loss.

The same issue on the OM616
1980 240D CRACKED cylinder head + cavitation damage
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