603.96 cylinder head crack.
 

Yes, to the tune of $2800 for a rebuilt head, installed. #6 cylinder area, at about 150K miles. Prior to that, three trap and turbos were replaced under warranty. A complete exhaust system rotted out, apparently due to the nature of the trap system producing excessive moisture. After the new, redesigned-w/o trap exhaust system was installed by MB, the car ran much better!

However, after replacing A/C compressor-twice, ALL window lifts, lower ball joints & struts, climate controll head & electronic fan regulator, all brake rotors-twice, steering box seal-twice, I got rid of the car.

I'm going back to the 123 series, Diesel.

ebiker.

What car was this?

Oops......MB was a 1987 124 series 300D. Turbodiesel, of course.

Car came from New Jersey. Bought it used with about 50K on the clock. 87 ran flawlessly untill the 100K mark, then many problems. In going over the pile of dealer invoices, Masano MB, Reading, Pa, and two MB dealers in central New Jersey, the origional owner and I spent close to $16,000 on repairs NOT covered by warranty.

I had traded a beautiful, rust-free, dealer maintained, low mileage, easy to repair 1985 300D on the 87 124 Diesel.

What a mistake!

ebiker.

1993 Audi 100S....PLEASE don't ask!

Looks like it's time to drag out the ol' Head Crack survey. There seem to be some new 603 engine owners out there that may not have voted.

BTW, for you guys that don't plan to experience this head crack problem I apologize for the "No, not yet" sarcasm. As you can see from the posts in this thread I was working my way through the pain at the time. :)

Well I hope I don't have to worry about the "no not yet" line at all. However, with any vehicle, you just never know. I"m at 170k miles and still running good. Burns about 1/2 qt. of oil a month, but that's about it.

One thing not mentioned in this thread is the notorious vacuum pump failure. If the old VP shoots out the timing chain, this may appear as a head crack. After I bought my 87 300dt, I talked to a service manager at the local Benz dealer. His first piece of advice was to replace the orginal vacuum pump. When asked about the head, he seemed to think it was not a big deal. BTW, he owns a 87 300dt. O.

fingers crossed
 

Folks,

273K on the original. Bought it just over 200K 3 years ago but not sure when the trap was removed.

There was a poster in another thread saying he wanted to go to the moon and back in his ( about 480K miles). I like that idea also! I think I just orbited and am on my way back.

Chuck

And it never will.

I have a #22 head. :shocked:

Michael, Did you put in the #22 head, or was it already on the car when you purchased it?

I purchased it with the aforementioned head and two holes in the block. I have no history of the car as it was donated to a charity and I bought it from them on eBay. (yes, I knew of the broken con-rod)

I'm still rebuilding it. The car is a 100 miles from me and I don't get out to it that often. I'm planning on a day or two after Christmas. I hope to get the head off and pistons out so I can see it the pistons were replaced too. I may only need a new set of rings. Those prices for piston sets are scary! :eek:

222k miles (last 10k by me). original #14 head. TO is long gone, but don't know when. New style vacuum pump on it. So far, so good.

Replaced my #14 head when it cracked a couple years after an overheating incident (upper radiator hose blew on the freeway in CA summer). Now have a new #22 head. My other 603 also had a cracked #14 head and I was planning on fix it, but then an inattentive driver rearended me at 55mph, totaling the car and eliminating the need to fix the engine... :)

Photos of the head replacement are here:
http://www.meimann.com/images/mercedes/head_gasket/

Intersting. This round of voting already doubled the survey group, but the ratio is virtually unchanged. Looks like about 20% of the 603.96 heads have suffered.

The poll only let me vote once, but here's the full rundown of the four 124.133's in my family:

My blue 87: Head cracked, replaced with new #22
My white 87: Head cracked, car totaled before head was replaced
Dad's smoke silver 87: Head seems AOK so far (155kmi)
Sis's smoke silver 87: Head seems OK so far (185kmi), but has some erratic temp issues in summer despite new cooling system parts, not sure what will happen there... :(

Also, a forum member who I believe is unavailable at the moment (Mike 'Rotor' Nowak) has an 87 300D with a cracked head that he was limping along.

And finally, a co-worker had one with a cracked head that he sold recently. I think that would push the percentage closer to 30% with the current tally (10 cracked, 40 ok).


:o