This may be a basic question:

Where are some good (and economical) sources for engine parts, particularly the 98-99 OM606? I've been googling for a while and it's hard to find a good source. I've found a few (PeachParts and NAPA) that have some, but the selection with any retailer, those included, seems to be spotty at best. For example, piston rings seem to be hard to find.

What other sources do you all use?

I've never found anything Phil/Peachparts couldn't get. Well, except for the injection pump rollers but I digress...

Using your example of piston rings, 003 030 98 24, I just call or email and he sends me back a price quote.

Easy!

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

yup. if a phone call to phil cannot get the part, it can't be bought.
click the buy parts link, and his phone number is on the right side of the screen.
emailing him is more efficient, as his quote comes back with all the part numbers and such. and an explanation of why a part is not available.

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

There should be no issues getting parts for a 606. I second what these guys have said already.

__________________
83 300TD (need rear wiper assembly dead or alive)
84 300SD Daily driver
85 300TD almost 400k miles and driven daily.
98 E300D *sold
86 300SDL *sold and made flawless 10 hour journey to new home.

Much thanks for the info all, that's what I was hoping to hear. I had figured that all the parts were available in the PeachParts online store, good to know I can just inquire and probably get what I don't see there.

Background: I'm sourcing an OM606 now and am weighing the benefits of buying a higher-mileage/cheaper one and rebuilding, or shelling out for a lower mileage one outright. I know these engines are "supposed" to last a long time, but I still don't feel comfortable going to the trouble of installing a 200,000 mile engine that stands a good chance of something being significantly worn within 50,000 miles.

Side basic question: the OM606 *is* a sleeved engine, right?

One of the best things you can do before buying is check the compression. Having just replaced the injector nozzles, this is not an easy thing to do due to the intake manifold.

What I did before buying was make sure the engine was cold before starting and see that it starts easily, after the glow plug light went out of course.

My engine has over 246,000 miles on it. I plan on running it until the compression is bad before rebuilding it.

__________________
Best Regards,
Jeff L

1984 300SD 247K+ miles - single tank w/ heat exchanger to run WVO - sold
1997 Ford F350 7.3L International turbo diesel crew cab with 100 gal transfer tank to hold B100
1995 E300D 245K+ miles running BioDiesel - my daily driver

Live Long and Prosper

I've had three 606's , so far. The first, a 220K 95 was down on compression from the get go. Then the valves started leaking, and then the VP went.

I could build two big block Chevy's for the price of one 606!

The second 606 was a low milage "freshy", but I smashed the car badly. Why not repair it? Well, the engine had an unusual piston slap, which was very audible if you listened through the oil filler opening. This was bought with 102K on the clock. While the mill only has 131K on it now at the junk yard, it has some sort of internal issue. It was slightly down on power as well. So, low milage does not equal OK all the time.

Third: Cheaped out and bought a 198K '96 with bad paint, but great mechanicals as evidence by mega dealer service records. And it does indeed have great mechnicals. No odd ball engine noise, and gives near as much power with B100 as with D2 which tells me compression /sealing is up at 22:1 as designed.

My take away: old diesels run better BUT , these are "1,000,000 mile" motors ONLY IF they are well taken care of right out of the gate.

So your buy high/rebuild, buy low/run decision node might be suspect.

Yes, I do agree -- longevity depends much on the care and feeding of the engine. And it would be a calculated risk to buy a lower-mileage engine. Thanks for the reminder of that, as I've probably been minimizing that in my mind a bit, but I do plan to go through and replace seals, head gasket and such on anything I buy. As was mentioned earlier, it does seem like a good idea to get a compression reading.

Last time I tried to cheap out on an engine rebuild it bit me in the a$$, leaving my truck stranded in Wall, SD.

So maybe I need to plan to rebuild regardless, then I know exactly what I have.

Mercedes are not the only cars I've seen come with a promise of going to 300,000+ miles, and unsurprisingly these figures mostly come from people who are anxious to sell me car in question.

Sure, a carbureted gas-fueled Chevy big block is nice and cheap and that might be attractive to some people, but if your standards are higher than cheap, heavy and $100 a week for gas, then other options start to look much better. I've also evaluated the Chevy 6.5L diesel -- engines cost maybe $500 less for about the same mileage (plus the 300K mile promise), and the crankshaft and block can be suspect (cheap castings).

Can't say with authority how different the rebuild costs would be, but I haven't found any reason to say they'd be substantially different.