Hi, first post. The long short is i swapped an om617.952 turbo into a 1983 toyota 4x4 long bed. I pulled the head due to a leak in the #4 exhaust valve as per my leakdown test, or so i thought. The machine shop just called and said my head is cracked all over the place. They have two earlier heads they would sell me for cheap, but it sounds like they have different glow plugs and he isnt convinced they will work. Does anyone have experience with this? Or know a good source for a non cracked head i could get sent to the shop for a rebuild? This is tricky because the truck is in kansas city, and i now live in maine, so i was planning on flying back to k.c when head was done, installing it and driving it home. Thanx

Where exactly is the head showing cracking? I may catch a lot of flack for this, but the 617 heads are amenable to welding of minor cracks in the combustion chamber areas. It should be done by someone who *knows* how to properly do this type of welding on cast iron.

Better of course to replace it with a known good head, but...

__________________
Current rolling stock:
2001 E55 183,000+ Newest member of the fleet.
2002 E320 83,000 - The "cream-puff"!
1992 500E 217,000+
1995 E300D 412,000+
1998 E300D 155,000+
2001 E320 227,000+
2001 E320 Wagon, 177,000+

Prior MBZ’s:
1952 220 Cab A
1966 300SE
1971 280SE
1973 350SLC (euro)
1980 450SLC
1980 450SLC (#2)
1978 450SLC 5.0
1984 300D ~243,000 & fondly remembered
1993 500E - sorely missed.
1975 VW Scirocco w/ slightly de-tuned Super-Vee engine - Sold after 30+ years.

Cracked as in leaking combustion to coolant or just visible cracks? For engines in general, cracks between the valve seats can be acceptable. Get a hold of a factory manual and see what it says.

Welding a cast iron heads combustion chamber isn't the way to go as you will still have a crack under the weld. Threaded cast iron pins are much better for this type of repair.

There wasnt coolant loss that i could tell, but while after a long drive on the highway the idle was really rough, i did a compression, then leakdown test and could hear air coming out the tailpipe on #4 while the valves were closed. Im pretty sure i over revved it, from california to kansas, i finished the project in a hurry and was too cheap to buy an aftermarket tachometer, and pyrometer though i drilled tapped and plugged the exhaust manifold for one. I pulled the head on a trip back to kansas and took it to a long standing machine shop. They just called and said there was a bunch of cracks and the head was no good

The shop says the cracks are definitely not repairable. He has a rebuilt head that a customer never picked up with 617-016-0001 casted into it. The glow plugs are different, there are no holes in back of head for the lifting bracket, and he said the pre chambers are different, but he could swap in the newer style ones from my head. Im thinking this is an early head from a 79 om617? Anyone know if this will work? Or reasons why iys a bad idea, like lower hp? Or if it will work should i swap over my cam tower etc, and have shop switch out pre chambers?

Might not be setup for turbo application. Exhaust valves, for example.

Sixto
98 E320s sedan and wagon
02 C320 wagon

Ya ive heard about the sodium filled exhaust valves. Does anyone know how to tell if the head is from a turbo or not? Theres got to be a list of the numbers cast into the heads somewhere, but i cant find anything online

Rule of thumb - turbo engines only came with parallel/pencil plugs. If it has serial/loop plugs, it wasn’t from a turbo engine.

Ask the moderator to move this thread to Diesel Discussion or start an new thread there.

Sixto
98 E320s sedan and wagon
02 C320 wagon