Before we all scare the guy half to death about checking to see if the head is cracked, it needs to be mentioned that on the early OM603, the diesel engine in the car you want to look at, had an inherent head fracture issue that some, not all, early OM603's suffered. MB addressed the head fracture issues by redesigning the head for these engines.

As Hatterasguy mentioned, an early head will have the number 14 stamped in a sequense of numbers. A redesigned newer head will have instead of 14, will have a 17, or higher number.

Not all early heads failed and most are still installed and on the road. The OM603 engines are generally bullet proof. But you do need to pay attention about the head and make sure it is good. Look in the search area here and educate yourself about the head crack issues.

Good Luck

Steve...............