Thats One Ugly OM603 #18 Head
 

Out of a '93 300SD. All the intake valves had been making slight contact with the pistons. #1 intake valve had made enough contact to scar the top of the piston. Amazingly enough, none of the valves are bent (according to the "spin them in a drill test). I'm waiting for a good deal on a complete, older OM603 engine. This is fun when it's just a project and not a necessity.

Pic of the #1 piston
 

Still haven't figured out how to post multiple pics in one post. Sorry.

Why? Was the head shaved? Block decked?

Timing issue
 

At some point the timing had been tampered with. There were "homemade" timing marks made into the #1 cam bearing cap. There must have been some issue and a genius decided this was the way to fix it. The cam sprocket mark lined up with the homemade marks on the cam bearing cap. The cam sprocket was so worn that the teeth were just finely sharpened points. This is the second cam sprocket I've seen like that. The other was on an OM602 Turbo.

This engine ran. It ran smoothly with an occasional miss. It just had a metallic rattle. The smoke was very strong raw diesel and it was intermittent. Because of the smoke and a miss every so often, I put a dial gauge on the deck and measured the piston protrusion on #1 and I did detect a slight difference from the front of the piston to the back.

I'll just keep working on my other project Mercedes ('87 190D Turbo) and be on the lookout for an engine for the SD. My wife hit a deer with my '95 E300 so it's in the body shop at the moment, but the '93 300D is running smooth and sweet.

I have not seen anyone with an 18 in years. I had one for a long time, came into a fully rebuilt 17 for the right price... so I sold my 18. :)

This is why I'll usually have an upcharge if someone has "been in there before".

Usually a pain in my rear fixing what people "fixed".