need a head! my first #14 head is self destructing, almost blew the rad cap out of my hand, car has been using H2O lately and now this confirms the problem!
So a #17 or #22 whatever the latest serial is for heads is wanted and this time I think I'll pass on a #14 although the last #14 I bought is still running on my other '87 (mine, not this bad boy that is my wife's daily driver) I am just gun shy and want to either find a good head, buy a '95 E300D or let this car go. Missed the opportunity to buy TylerH860's E300D by a few days, drat. Guess I gotta fix my wife's 87 or put it on CL as is.
DDH

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

Sure its not the head gasket?

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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

Pretty certain. The pressure builds up in the reservoir to almost blow the cap out of your hand when you remove it. Oil in the H2O now. No dripping on the ground. No smoke out the tail pipe either.
The pressure thing is the indicator of a cracked head, probably between intaker and exh valves, I'll wager its cyl 1 or 2 but don't hold me to that.
#14 head is like a roulette wheel. closing in on 270K miles and shes toast.

__________________
'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

between #1 and #2 is a weak spot in the gasket. Never hurts to pull it first before you fork over 500-2000

__________________
http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

Just thought I would keep anyone interested up to date on this.
I found a relatively low mileage engine (161K) and had it installed for 2500 parts and labor see it pictured below.
This car has just 290K showing on the odometer. I think this will breath new life into my wife's daily driver.
I haven't learned what failed in the original engine yet but eventually will when they take it apart. I'm still fairly certain it has a cracked head, the fellow that sold me the engine had lots of experience with the 603 even to the point he tried to convince me to have it welded. A head rebuilder in Northridge stopped repairing cracked aluminum diesel heads as he saw the success rate was pretty low so I am not at all interested in a repaired head.

FWIW, l found a head locally but the seller wanted $1000 for it (probably a #14) but with no guarantee so I was absolutely not interested
I would have paid around $400 for it if it had checked perfect but this engine is running very well so I don't regret letting the head go. If I were really intent on replacing the head I would have ordered a new one for around $1600 (the lowest wholesale price I could find).

This engine had been sitting a while as the car it came out of, a wagon, wasn't run very far for a while. On initial start up it had some lifter noise but that's gone already after a 70 mile run with Mobil One 15W50 in it. It idles really smooth and is strong. The idler pulley, new style Vac Pump, updated plastic fan and thermo clutch came off my donor engine and all are hardly broken in.

I have access to another IP if needed but the one on this engine is not leaking so I should be good to go.

When I get a mileage figure I'll post it here. The only thing not working is the cruise but my wife will never use that feature, so I'm letting that be until I find a good module.
DDH

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__________________
'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!