How long can 616 or 617 go without rebuild?
 

As a "fun car" (not that all of my cars aren't fun), I'm looking at a 1983 manual 240D. The odo is broken at 205K, but Autocheck shows a mileage of 217K back in 1999 (definitely a rollback in its history). So, realistically, this car probably has 350K on it, give or take. But it drives fine....and it's fun to drive a manual.

So how far have 616 engines (and 617 for that matter) been known to go without a rebuild? I wouldn't want a fun car suddenly to become un-fun.

Hmm
 

Replace the timing chain, keep up on maintenance.

The average is 400k - 450k miles, unless it has been abused.

I have an exception near me 750000 highway miles, she replaces the timing chain every 200k miles. She is a Drug company sales rep, bought the EURO "5" speed manual 240D 17 years ago, with 28k miles from the original owner... :eek:
She has replaced the clutch twice. (AMAZING).

.

My 617 .951 has 347,000 no chain, and smells like a new one.Exhaust perfect burn no oil.Chain is tight,no slack timing within 2 degrees.

My 85 617 has 313K on the clock. Just changed the flex discs and center support/bearing for the first time{discs still looked OK}. Timing chain also at 2 degrees. Original exhaust. Properly cared for, these car can easily reach 600K+.
John

I expect that with good care 6 or 700K would be possible.

In taking these motors down for other reasons, at 275K we typically find virtually no wear on the bottom end. The chain guides and cam chains do wear though and have to be changed. Also an engine killer is the chain drive oil pump on the 617 turbo motors. Its down out of sight but is much shorter than the cam chain so it gets five or six times the wear.

My original 617.950 went 1,244,000.

Originally, we thought it was just 244,000, but service records were obtained recently that show the odometer rolling over back in 1989-1990.

When I got the car, the compression was low and it wouldn't start in cold weather, so I pulled it for a rebuild.

The bottom end looked good, but the cylinders and pistons were beyond shot. Rings came out in pieces...

With (really) bad care I reckon you could break one within about 2 miles...

...any secondhand vehicle is totally dependent on the previous owner(s).

One very good reason not to buy from a dealer in my opinion. To date I have noticed that if the owner is a total dick head then the car will have suffered.

I replaced the timing chain on my 617 at 212k....now at 319k with .5 degrees of stretch on the chain.....in over 100k! Proper (synthetic) oil changes I believe to be the reason for the nearly non-existent stretch. Cam and cam sprocket still in great shape, still very little wear on the slide rail/guides. The engine is easily going to outlast the car as its slowly rusting to death after 31 years in a salt climate. When the car dies I will part it out and turn the engine into a generator for my house. :D

Apparently the timing chain has been replaced.

amazing!

So the rebuild at 1,244,000 miles was the first rebuild of the engine? If so, quite remarkable.

I have around 260k on the odometer, which had been broken since the previous owner bought the car, 10 years ago. The actual amount of time it was broken, I will never know, but 10 +/- years with no logged miles, and 260k on the clock, little blowby, I am burning a little bit of oil now, which is dissapointing, but not unacceptable given the amount of reliable service this car has provided to it's owners over the years. It burns so little oil I rarely have to top up, it only burns white on start up, and a little hint of smoke on hard accelerations. Drives down the highway like a new car, shifting a little rough, still haven't gotten that perfect yet.

Yes, but we didn't have all the records back then, so I thought the wear was quite excessive for only 244,000 miles. The cylinders must have had an 1/8" step in the top and the rings fell out in pieces!!!!

The seller and I came to terms....I pick it up next Monday. This will be fun.