Anybody swap a 606 into the w140 are there any good write ups on the swap

To get to the GP holes you need to remove the intake.

Just match the adapter to the GP thread. Believe pencil plugs are 12x1.25

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Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (113k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
1993 300SD (291k)
1993 300D 2.5T (338k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (265k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K)
1985 300D (233K)

Asides the rod bending issue, is there any other known issue ?


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Lifters can leak down.

The evaporators on w140 and w124 cars are known weak and expensive to remove and replace so I’d want to verify that the system is working and holding charge.

__________________
Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (113k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
1993 300SD (291k)
1993 300D 2.5T (338k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (265k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K)
1985 300D (233K)

You buy the 3.5 engined cars with expectations of issues. They do not occur fine. They do you have a 3 liter lower block availability at least.

If the engine remains okay. Great and hopefully you have purchased the replacement block.

If keeping the car early in the ownership. Find and purchase a lower block. Not after trouble erupts and they have become hard to find. Nobody selling a 3.5 can say honestly that it will be fine a couple of years down the road.

It is somewhat odd the way things generally work out in life. You have the lower block on hand. The engine may never miss a beat. You do not and there will be issues.

The car is pristine and not too expensive I might go for it on that basis. A factor for me as well. I would do the change over if it came to needing it.

Paid for today might be dollars. Good lower 3 liter blocks are possibly fairly cheap these days. This also may not remain a reality. What a lot hangs on is he said the car is not using oil. If this is true the problem may in the early stage. Where the cylinder has not started the progressive wear pattern. Or he could be lying. Again most people seem to stay fairly honest other than selling cars. I am old enough at eighty to usually detect the difference. I also have to consider that the majority of people do not really know a lot about cars. So as a buyer I have to know what I am getting into. When I suspect or know something the price has to be right. I have found you cannot wait too long or the car will often find another buyer.

I purchased a car well knowing they have known engine issues. On another brand but in really nice condition. Dealer cost is about 5K I knew to address it.

I priced the parts in quality aftermarket at about a thousand dollars. Not difficult but time consuming. The time after several years has arrived. Soon as it warms up enough I will do it. I still like the car. The silver lining is if you change out the lower block to a 3 liter one. You then have what I would call an almost bulletproof engine.

At this point in time the cause of the 3.5 engines lower block failure is kind of irelivant. You just have to assume it could happen. Not that it never would.

For whatever reason fairly honest people far too often do not tell the truth when selling a car.

In my case i got one car we have with known engine issues at a price that I had no real issue with doing the work when it was needed. At least in your case it might never be. At the same time paying a dealer to do it was out of the question for me.

I design tests. I might consider disconnecting the glow plug relay and see if it starts up evenly. When the engine is cold on a decent day with the temperature at perhaps 70 or higher. Nothing is conclusive in that test. Yet if it starts up evenly it is a far better sign than if it starts up with a pronounced missing. If it does not start up at all I probably would not be too concerned either.

Above are just my thoughts and others will have theirs.

Diesel smell out the tailpipe can easily be a cylinder with not enough compression. To test for that I would do a milli volt comparison on the glow plugs looking for a cylinder with a lot less voltage output. Most sellers will not be tollerent of actually a buyer doing a real compression check. Where they can hardly object to the glow plug tests. Most would not even think of what you are doing.

Even if observing you. By just doing the milli volt tests. Reading each cylinder on the glow plug harness. You are looking for very simular voltages across all cylinders. Usually in about the nine milli volt range. Any one reading higher by a good margin would be your leaking injector. Lower voltage speaks for itself.

So much depends on a persons financial state as well.Versus price of the item. It impacts your perspectives.

Seems the glow plug voltage trick is the best route to go as removing the injectors or glow plugs isnt something i would have able to do. yea i know where a few spare 603s are so even if it just blew up i could still fix it up nice. Its hard to decide between this car or a 1987 300D i found for only 800 its in great shape except the trans is shot.

There is a customer of mine in charlotte that’s has one for free…
Beautiful shape, but has motor issues.
I’m considering grabbing it, and dropping my spare 603 in it…

But if you want it… I can pass it to you.

Assuming you are nearby that is…

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Where are you loacated im in SE ky. You have any pictures of the car?

Yea id definetly be interested

I agree that you buy a 3.5 with the assumption that it has a pending failure. Or you buy one like my 93 with a factory replacement engine.

There are many known cases of 3.5L cars with “high” mileage. High being relative, in the US you don’t see many cars much past the 270-330k range honestly.

And it’s not like the 3.0L 603 isn’t without warts. Yeah the 3.5L head seems to have resolved the cracking issues. But you still have a mixed metal engine that can eat headgaskets. I’ve seen plenty with an outboard leak.

__________________
Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (113k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
1993 300SD (291k)
1993 300D 2.5T (338k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (265k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K)
1985 300D (233K)

My wife had a gas powered one with same white smoke In the exhaust. It tuned out to be a blown Head gasket. Check the coolant reservoir for oil droplets. If you can get the gasket done by a good indy it might be worth buying.

The 3.5 is a bored out 3.0. It made it weak thus the ovaling of the pistons. The 3.0 ltr had the bad #14 head issue but the lower end was sound. The newer heads from #17 on up are markedly reinforced. The head gaskets have been improved as well using Viton seals. Mine is a 603A 3.0 with a 3.5 head. Just turned over 300,000 miles still running very strong. Attached are the white papers on these motors.

Also the head can be checked for leaks using the NAPA head leak detector: https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/BK_7001006?cid=paidsearch_shopping_dcoe_google&campaign=GSC-Chemicals&campaign_id=6478876245&adgroup_id=115972171828&adtype=pla&gclid=CjwKCAjwmqKJBhAWEiwAMvGt6GnbdieHZddfinMeyuQeLmJU0TdS21XYT68s2Bxfx_DOGFeiw6SG9xoCGRYQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&

Attached Files

OM603.97x_3.5L_white_paper.pdf (45.9 KB, 38 views)

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91 300GD SWB with transplanted 87 OM603 turbo motor