Hi I have a 1994 s350 with the 3.5l om603.97 all I see is its a terrible engine with many problems like head gasket failures and and bent connecting rods ect. My car is in very nice shape and runs well it has 225000 miles on it.m y question is should I bother putting it on the road and doing brakes ect. Or do people here think the problems are exaggerated I don't want to put $500 into it just to have connecting rods bend the engine doesn't burn oil at all but has a bit of blow by nothing like om617's I've had but fair bit more than my 1987 300d with the om693.96 3l
Thanks mike

I have an OM603.971, I've been using it as a DD for about ten months and have put about 20k miles on it. So far no problems with the engine. I regularly spend money on maintenance and repairs - it seems to be at about that time in life for a W140 - luckily the NEED TO REPAIR NOW items are happening one at a time so I can fix them and get back on the road. Anyway, after reading all the doom and gloom on the engine, I decided I liked that car enough to give it a whirl and hopefully if it hadn't exhibited any of the symptoms by now (140K miles) it was over the break-in period.

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1992 300SD 140.134 Sold

Ya think I'll do the same and just take a chance on it is works and rides very nice.

some engines were good,if the motor made it over 150,000 miles its ok

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran

That's one good thing to hear thanks

You will hear non-owners of 603.xxx engines spewing all kinds of bad reviews of the 603, same thing with the .97x version.
Agreed that the engine should be good at this point, possibly replaced. Worry more about your engine wire harness, door closer, A/C, other W140 systems. My '93 was a pleasure to drive.