OM617A Rebuilder question
 

Hello,

I am thinking of having my OM617A rebuilt/replaced. Can anyone recommend any quality rebuilders who do a thorough and professional job? What is a reasonable price to do a long block?

I don't know if it is really an issue, but I live in Canada. However, I have no problem using a US company if they do good job for a good price.

Thanks,

Steve

Check out Metric Motors, plan on about $6000US for a long block:

http://www.mercedesengines.net/default.asp

Is there anyone else one of you might recommend? Is there really only one good engine rebuilder in North America?

Thanks for the one reply so far.

Steve

AFAIK, they are the best. Maybe someone else has another recommendation.

I don't know of any other house with a similar reputation.

You may get a quality engine from another house........but, is it worth the risk?

You cannot save $2K from another house unless the same level of overhaul is not performed. There are many ways to save money on a rebuild if you wish to provide a 6 month warranty. Metric doesn't use any of them.

My favorite machinist would do it but not for a whole lot less, probably. The shipping from Indiana might be less depending on where you are.

He would not be able to turn it around like metric would either. I imagine they have them in stock.

Tom W

Maybe get a price on a short block from Metric and have the Head rebuilt locally (with you supplying the new valve springs and valve stem seals so that you get good quality ones). The camshaft you can deal with yourself. You should be able to see if the cam lobes are in reusable shape and the bearing journals should be easy to measure.
A short block would mean you would probably need to install the timing chain also.
This leaves the turbo, IP and fuel injectors to decide what you want to do with also.

Well........you started off just fine.;)

Get the price for the short block and send the existing head into Metric for an a-la-carte diagnosis of its needs. The cost won't be more than any local shop and there is no question about the end result.

Seriously, how are you going to ensure that a local shop measures the valve stems accurately to .0001"............or the valve guides get reamed to .001" over the stems?

I'm not sure you would save much, there's only a $2500 price difference between the short and long block, and the short block does not include a IP or a head. A reman IP is worth about $1000 and I can't imagine spending much less than $1000 on the head, so we are talking about saving $500 (not counting R&R labor). It doesn't seem worth the hassle.

It's only worthwhile if you don't plan to replace the IP and you don't mind shipping and waiting for your own head to be reworked.

My IP only has about 80K on it and I don't think I would reuse it, it's too much of a PITA to R&R. I guess you could save up to $1000 if the head didn't need much, probably doesn't make sense for those of us with 400K mile heads.

If you're replacing the short block..........R&R of the IP is easy...........the engine is in the garage.;)

I was thinking about the next time the IP needs to be replaced, I would rather have a fresh one.

Well, you're a special case: longevity desired: forever.;)

I'm curious as to how well an IP with 300K on the clock performs as compared to an overhauled unit........and what the longevity will be for each of them.

It's probably a rhetorical question.

That is a good question. In my case, the reman IP made my engine run smoother than it ever had since I bought it (with about 150K miles). I just don't see the point of putting a high mileage IP on a fresh engine, the performance probably wouldn't be optimum.

I do suspect that a lot of the shaky/smoky issues on high mileage engine are (at least partially) IP problems. Even though they rarely "fail," I do think the degrade and affect performance.