I know the 648 has a lot more complicated electronics but i see a lot of them with high miles so they seem to be reliable. Plus i really like it being a DI engine vs the idi of the 606. The w211 seems to be a lot better quality car than the w210 as well. For staying under 400hp which would you choose.

Are you looking for an engine, or chassis?
Both engines are very good and reliable. The preference of DI vs IDI will dretermine the electronics involved. If you are considering the engine for a project non MB chassis and are leaning towards a 648, you may want to also consider a 642 as the more compact packaging opens up more transplant options.

All 3 engine offerings have their pros and cons. From my limited experience, the DI engines will yield more power for the buck than the IDI ones, but the IDI ones will likely be more user friendly and reliable sans the electronics. So it will depend heavily on what your primary objectives are. For me personally, I found balance in having both. My 642 is my power engine, my 603 is my reliable engine. Even though both are 3L sixes, both are very different.

I'm just really confused with your direction on this project given the desire for a reliable daily-driver expressed here and in your other thread.

You do realize that anytime you embark on this kind of project its almost always at a certain 'cost' in terms of reliability and durability?

One of the reason I like Mercedes products is the blend of comfort, reliability, refinement and overall balances achieved through a myriad of engineering and systems integration issues. Mercedes engineers spend a whole lot of time, energy, effort getting the right balance juggling around the pros and cons of many different approaches to bring a product to the market that is a benchmark for other manufacturers.

When you start doing things like doubling the HP of the stock engine you're going to inevitably create issues in other systems that you have to correct. This starts to lead down the path of unknowns that are not generally conducive to reliability or durability.

Have you driven a W211 E320 CDI? Bone stock they have amazing levels of power and torque, why do you want 400HP? Just to mess around? Do you think your results will actually improve the overall car?

Off the soapbox for now....

The OM648 is an amazing engine and quite a jump up from the OM606 Mechanical setup. Common rail high pressure injection offers a level of fuel metering and precision that is unattainable in the older IDI engine setups that have their roots in technology originally developed in the 1950's.

The modern DI engines have fuel injection systems that actually have multiple injection events per combustion cycle. Think about that... the ECU can meter fuel into the combustion chamber to manage the desired fuel burn on a single injection event?

Contrast that with the older mechanical pumps that batch-dump one load of fuel into the chamber through a mechanical spring loaded injection advance timer. I always kind of smile when people freak out about timing their mechanical pumps fretting about where it should be 13.5 or 14.5 not realizing that the actual timing of the event is effected by a myriad of other things they have no control at all over like the actually opening pressure in the injector and the calibration of the injection timer.

Of course the huge downside to CDI engines are the levels of computer control. This is unavoidable and can be highly problematic if/when things go awry.

There are no free lunches I guess!

I'd advise you to find an E320 CDI and take it for a test drive - I'm guessing you'll think it has more than adequate power bone stock.

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98 Dodge-Cummins pickup (137K)
13 GLK250 (157k)
06 E320CDI (341K)
16 C300 (89K)
82 300GD Gelaendewagen (54K)

Tim's post is great...take to heart what he says.

The stock E320 CDI has GOBS of power....hard to imagine anyone needing more. I got Stage 1 tunes on both of mine to get a bit more power just for the fun of it, but mainly to eliminate EGR and swirl flaps as eventual maintenance concerns.

__________________
14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 157k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 175k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 144k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 70k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

If you're talking engine swap, there's cost to consider. A used om606 is $3000 with 200K plus miles, while on the other hand you can buy a whole run and drive crashed e320 CDI for $900 bucks.

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Old Blue - '83 240D 6 speed manual trans, OM648
Green Machine - 2001 Europa G500
'87 300SDL Bought on Peachparts
'02 E320 4matic wagon

Patchouli Wagon - 2004 E500 - SOLD
333k mile 97 BMW 750il V12. - SOLD
The Californian - 85 300TD - SOLD
Daily Super Sedan - 03 Audi S8 - SOLD
Family Truckster - 2012 VW Touareg TDI - SOLD

The OM606 turbo seems to have become the chevy small block of the diesel engine swap world in the last few years. As you point out multi hundred thousand mile examples seem to be selling for $3K?

If I was interested in this sort of project I'd go with the OM648. There are companies that offer stand-alone controllers and some aftermarket support appears to be forming around this engine family.

https://www.blacksmokeracing.com/tuning-guides/om648-om613-400-500hp/

IMHO dealing with the engine electronics is worth the complexities of computer controlled ECU's.

But I still wouldn't bother.

__________________
98 Dodge-Cummins pickup (137K)
13 GLK250 (157k)
06 E320CDI (341K)
16 C300 (89K)
82 300GD Gelaendewagen (54K)