I finished talking with a Mercedes specialist, they told me for a rebuilt and new pistons it would cost me $2,500 including labor. Is that a good price or normal?

Pistons, rings, bearings, liners, valves, valve guides, camshaft, timing chain, oil pump, rebuilt IP, turbo (Mabye), and all misc oil seals. For these I'd be willing to pay $3500-4000 for an OM617 rebuilt by a seasoned professional.

For JUST pistons, rings, and bearings... $2000 would be better but $2500 sounds okay to me.

If you mean a complete rebuild as stated above, $2500 sounds pretty good.

Are you sure you need a rebuild ?
I am skeptical of this bid...
New pistons alone would be about a $1000...
If he knows Mercedes then I suspect he will check the pistons when he takes the engine apart... find that they are fine with a little clean up, perhaps cutting a few new ring lands, put special rings in from Deves to fit those new lands, and put it back together.... and it will last just as long as the new pistons would have.... but it will look like he did not charge you as much for labor as he really did...
I really don't think a legit bid can be made on a 616 or 617 engine without having taken it apart and done the inspections...

I would guess..

He's going to put new liners in the engine and re-use the pistons. If the engine has had resonable service, I've always heard they didn't wear much-even in the ringlands(617.95X).
rebuilding mb engines is quite expensive. You cannot slap a set of rings/brgs in it and go.

M

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Michael McGuire
83 300d
01 vw A4 TDI
66 Chevy Corsa
68 GMC V6 w/oD
86 300E

Michael said what I was meaning.... the liners are about $35 each.... but the pistons for a set would be close to $1000... so if you just go back to the original bore by using stock liner then the cleaned up piston will fit just fine ( has the possibility if bored and honed carefully ).....

And I am not saying this is not perfectly ok mechanical wise... as the FSM tells exactly what and how to measure to determine if the piston is reuseable...
I am just saying I suspect his quote meant this knowing you would never see the difference in the final engine performance.

I had a 1984 Volvo Diesel and was quoted $160 per piston in 1988. I contacted Venolia and they would make a piston to my specs for $60.00 back then.

including parts? seems low. i would want a detailed list of what he is going to do and what parts are to be replaced. i am talking of reusing pistons and resleeving. has he done one before?

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

i guess i didnt say it but i think it is TOO low.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Seems to cheap. I would expect closer to $4k for a full rebuild.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

yes that is more like it. it is still perhaps a little low.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

When i picked up my 83 cd, i also got the original engine that was removed. I can't remember exactly but i think the PO said it really only needed new rods - does this sound like something that would happen to this engine and could it be the only thing really wrong with it?

I'm planning on working on it as a project but i've never really dealth with taking apart an engine.

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'87 300D new to me
'85 300D Sold
'83 300cd Sold

doesn't seem right to me. A full rebuild is a lot of work and after parts the guy wouldn't make anything. Besides, quoting it before it's apart, maybe a swap with another? The engine I did had the secondary compression ring lands over the wear spec, so I couldn't use the Deves ring set. I did tell them there would be a market for a set with wider compression rings in both positions as time goes on and these engines see more miles.

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

That price sounds about right for that approach, but I would personally not consider that approach. In doing that you are reusing among the most highly stressed parts in a diesel engine, the pistons. For a little more, they can simply bore the block and use new pistons.

Good luck,

Adsitco @ 1-800-521-7656 wants about $4500 for a rebuilt short block.

The last rebuild I did on a 617 where the sleeves were replaced and we reused the existing pistons (they were within spec) was $3k and that was a little over a year ago. If you pull the pistons then I am of the opinion that you need to plan on replacing the liners if it has over 250k miles on it. You'd be crazy not too - otherwise don't pull the pistons out - just change bearings and get a head job with new chain/guides/seals. You don't want to have to purchase pistons unless you absolutely have to.

If he is offering to do a rebuild with new pistons then yes, $2500 is a good price.

I have a friend that just purchased a 427 Chevy engine (rebuilt, in like new condition) for $3500 but I don't think it will fit in a 123.

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Jim