Tips for replacing a 603 engine!
 

I finally ordered a used engine and it should be here today, the boneyard where I purchased it suggested I replace the rear seals and a transmition pump seal. Any other tips anyone has to make the transition smoother? The engine is complete, except will use my old oil pan. We will use a tractor front end loader to pull-drop engine and we do have the service manual, just looking for a couple of tips that experienced MB people could give. Thanks for the help!!! :)

Since the oil pan will be off, check out the oil pump with chain. Be certain to have a new vac pump on there. Crank the ALDA up (seems about one turn CCW worked well for me).

Rebuild the injectors. New glow plugs. Have the EGR removed. Hot tank the intake manifold to get the carbon build up out. Reseal the IP.

Consider rebuilding the turbocharger while it's easy to get to. Maybe a new head gasket if the miles are up there.

What he said plus....
 

Enjoy for another 200K!;)

Pull the engine and trans in one unit. Separate them once they are out.

Thanks for the input, any suggestions???

Well here is what I would do:

Put the engine on a stand.

Remove head, replace head gasket and every seal in the head.
Have injectors tested, and rebuilt if needed.
Remove oil filter canister housing, re seal.
New rear main seal.
New oil pan seals.
Replace oil pump chain and tensioner.
Remove front cover, reseal, replace timing chain along with all rails and tensioner.
Rebuild turbo.
Rebuild alt.
Replace water pump.
Rebuild IP.
Rebuild PS pump.
Replace Vac pump if old style.

Thats about it, it should give you years of pretty trouble free service. Plus it won't leak oil!:D

I'm with Hatterasguy except I'd feel the turbo impeller and see if there's any play, its not something that goes out all at once (oops, didn't Brian's SDL turbo start blowing a quart of oil every 10 miles or was it like that when he bought the car?) and if OK keep the turb as-is.
One major thing though. If you plan to keep the car a long time check the cylinder walls. I looked at the cylinder walls while my head was off on my '87 300D project car and discovered the rings had started scoring one cylinder so I re-ringed all 6 pistons, its just a $110 set of Deves rings and some extra labor at that point :rolleyes: my rings were pretty shot at 265K. YMMV.
New engine mounts also recommended!
Whatever or what little you do, replace the vac pump if it doesn't have four torx head bolts holding the cover on. The original vac pumps are well known to be a serious liability. As in engine killers! :eek:
And if you have the cam out to take the head off replace the lifters, they can be pretty annoying when they get old and start to click and tick. The approx $20 each cost is offset by the fact you'll not have to do any valve adjustments! :)
DDH

Since the engine is out and everything is easy to get at you might as well do as much as possible now.

Say this engine was built in 1986, so it would be 20 years old. Most of these cars averaged between 10k-15k miles a year. So this engine probably has between 200k-300k on it.

Turbo's don't typicaly blow out all of a sudden. So you can probably just inspect it and see if their is any play in the bearings.

what about the serial # and condition of the head?

I am sure the head is a #14, it is supposed to have 170k on it, similar to my car. My turbo was full of oil, but that could have come from when wifey blew it up! I will certainly take all the tips and use them, good point about it being easier to work on with the engine out. Hopefully I will start on it this weekend.

If I take the head off and replace the head gaskets and seals, do I have to have the head machined? Or can I just take it off, remove and clean up old gasket and check for any cracks? I have priced out all suggestions, some I plan on doing others (most expensive) I will do as needed. Thanks again for the tips.