Hey guys,

my car: 1987 300d with the 603 12 valve

my story:

I've had a radiator leak for about 2 weeks. Since I know the 603 is notorious for having issues when it gets hot, I parked it. Yesterday I drove it to my friends shop. Before I left, i filled the coolant system with about 3/4 gallon of water. I figured that would be enough since the water level was at the 'normal' level and it was a short trip.

I drove it to the shop and was careful to watch the temp guage the entire time. At no point did it get anywhere over 80 degrees (very short drive...approx 3 min). So i parked it and got out to chat with my buddy...jump back in the car 30 min later and it starts but quickly dies....it has never done that before.

I try it a few more times and can only get it to run with almost full throttle for about 5 seconds before dying....it sounded exactly like it was starved for fuel.

Filled the coolant system to the brim with water...only took about 1/2 gallon more (approximately) before it was overflowing. Started again, same thing....

Took off fuel hose and made sure the lifter pump was working...it was...so i cracked a few injector lines and cranked to make sure it wasn't the IP...it didn't seem to be b/c there was fuel dripping out of the unscrewed injector line...

So now i'm stuck...what is the deal? when it does run, there is no smoke that I can see...but it only runs for a few seconds...would doing a compression test tell me whether I have cracked/warped the head? What do you think this is?


Thanks for reading