Where to buy an OM606?

[merryck]

Some of you may have seen the thread for the burger van in Reader's Rides, I'm on the lookout for an OM606 engine and gearbox, but can't seem to find anything much. Ideally I'd like all the ancillaries to come with it.

Is there anything in particular I should avoid when it comes to these engines? Just looking for some pointers really!

[ChasR]

They have become rarer, in part to:

-Many being pillaged over the years
-Most S124s/210s with them being so neglected that it was not worth rebuilding them when cheap ; yes, even these have limits.
-Older E-Classes now becoming more valuable, especially the S124 derived cars.

For as long as I remember, OM606s are now around £1k and have been for some time. The odd bargain can pop up. As for what to look out for:

-Knocking sounds. Unlikely to be the big ends, but more likely the injector nozzles being clogged and throwing off the timing. They are rebuildable however via diesel specialists. Mercedessource do a kit for you to rebuild them with new and improved nozzles, should you want to go that way.
-Vacuum Pump. This is a very rare failure ; I don't actually know of anyone I've known with an OM60x engine have this go ; they used the pump on the 200D to the 300D. These are engine driven off a eccentric track on a timing chain idler sprocket. If either the sprocket or the pump wheel wear out, it can destroy an engine. But these rattle long before they go, and a stethoscope on the vacuum pump can rule out it going. Some pattern pumps can be worse than worn ones too. Some Pierburg ones had issues.
-Injector leaks. I seem to recall a friend saying these can suffer this. If the injector seals leak, and are left to leak, the gasses can destroy the threads around the injector. The first sign of it being too late is the car smelling of diesel inside, and it coming from the injector area. IIRC, the injectors begin to move. Again, a rare failure, but one to note. It's what killed a friend's dad's E300 S210, but he basically drove cars until they died with little maintenance

IIRC, you might need a gearbox controller, depending on how easy it is to fit the 'box in with the wiring harness. Someone else can advise here.

Given how much the engines go for, I'd buy a complete S21x E300 Turbo Diesel. That way, you can check alot of things, and break the car. You'll have a harness, box and ECUs to get the engine running. The OM606 won't require much in the way of ECUs bar possibly cold running, but the gearbox will need an ECU, otherwise, the changes may be awkward and even skip gear, which is how at least the S124 'boxes default if the 'box ECU doesn't see power.

[georgeb]

sowen seems to be our resident OM606 man, if I remember.

[merryck]

Excellent info, cheers!

The wiring loom in the van is currently non existent/seems to consist of the type of wiring I was doing in my Mini when I was a lad, meaning dodgy connectors, weird gauges of wire and a colour scheme that makes little to no sense, so I may be starting from scratch on that!

Are there any other recommendations you guys would make for an alternative? It's got to drag this thing along with a kitchen in it and do it reliably. I was considering a Land Rover 200/300 tdi as I know them but ruled that out, and a Cummins, but ruled that out due to weight issues, the 6BT is both an expensive and heavy lump!

[jamesd1972]

Any RWD van might be a good place to start? Transit might be the most plentiful and cheapest ?
They seem to die with rust rather than engine woes ?
James

[mk2cossie]

Jan 4, 2021 13:05:52 GMT merryck said:

Excellent info, cheers!

The wiring loom in the van is currently non existent/seems to consist of the type of wiring I was doing in my Mini when I was a lad, meaning dodgy connectors, weird gauges of wire and a colour scheme that makes little to no sense, so I may be starting from scratch on that!

Are there any other recommendations you guys would make for an alternative? It's got to drag this thing along with a kitchen in it and do it reliably. I was considering a Land Rover 200/300 tdi as I know them but ruled that out, and a Cummins, but ruled that out due to weight issues, the 6BT is both an expensive and heavy lump!

Have you watched any of "Escargo" on YouTube?
They replaced the stonking great big Dover straight 6 with a Cummins 4BT

[giuliettaevo]

BMW m57 engine is also very good. 330/530 diesel.

Just look out with the ratios of the gearbox, they're meant to be used with a very long final drive.

[merryck]

I did watch Escargo, yeah. The 4BT is lighter, but my understanding was that it's not as common and therefore should be avoided due to parts availability. Writing that out doesn't make much sense to me though because it's Cummins, maybe that was from my time lurking on Land Rover 6BT conversion pages.

What would you guys go for? I'm not well versed in big diesels!

[merryck]

Also, cheers for all the advice so far, doing a lot of reading up!

[mk2cossie]

Jan 4, 2021 20:22:31 GMT merryck said:

I did watch Escargo, yeah. The 4BT is lighter, but my understanding was that it's not as common and therefore should be avoided due to parts availability. Writing that out doesn't make much sense to me though because it's Cummins, maybe that was from my time lurking on Land Rover 6BT conversion pages.

What would you guys go for? I'm not well versed in big diesels!

If it were my own build, I'd seriously look in to getting a small capacity LS engine. Light weight, well catered for, nice and quiet idling away, plenty of gearbox options and easily serviced at home.

Unless you are set on a diesel so you can burn the old chip fat

Also, a petrol engine will be nicer to have idling away, and would be easier to get in to any Low Emission Zone fiasco should they be expanded or you wish to travel in to one

[carat 3.6]

Jan 4, 2021 20:22:31 GMT merryck said:

I did watch Escargo, yeah. The 4BT is lighter, but my understanding was that it's not as common and therefore should be avoided due to parts availability. Writing that out doesn't make much sense to me though because it's Cummins, maybe that was from my time lurking on Land Rover 6BT conversion pages.

What would you guys go for? I'm not well versed in big diesels!

The 4BT is more common here than the 6BT now. DAF 45, IVECO eurocargo, and lots of DENNIS buses all have it fitted. The problem with them is the height of it, I don't have a measure to hand but it is a tall block.

The OM606 is a great engine for making power (I should know!), but it isnt well suited to use in a van conversion unless you have the 136hp non turbo version. Also you wont be able to use the auto gearbox or engine ecu from a donor car without throwing money at it. There are ways of doing it with parts from a w202 but then it's getting complicated.

If you don't need to worry about low emission zones my advice is to find an old 312 sprinter, these had a 2.9td 5cyl engine which is very easy to get running in your van with it's small amount of wiring. It is also found in some ssangyong 4x4's like the rexton. Will cost around £1k to buy but you wont need other parts to make it work.

AVOID any ford diesel like the plague! The old ones are noisy and slow, the new ones are a money pit.

[merryck]

Jan 4, 2021 22:32:03 GMT carat 3.6 said:

AVOID any ford diesel like the plague! The old ones are noisy and slow, the new ones are a money pit.

You don't have to tell me twice! An LS conversion would be pretty cool, bit of V8 power would definitely go with our American theme!

I'll take a look into the Sprinters as well.

[carat 3.6]

Jan 4, 2021 23:04:02 GMT merryck said:

Jan 4, 2021 22:32:03 GMT carat 3.6 said:

AVOID any ford diesel like the plague! The old ones are noisy and slow, the new ones are a money pit.

You don't have to tell me twice! An LS conversion would be pretty cool, bit of V8 power would definitely go with our American theme!

I'll take a look into the Sprinters as well.

Are you using this as a working burger van, or just want the look?

Engine running all day as a generator, or power from a honda type carry job?

V8's are cool, but they wont stay cool running a burger van....

[merryck]

It's a working burger van, but likely to get it's power externally most of the time at events etc. I'll probably rely on a generator for the times we'll need it.

I think I'd prefer diesel really, I'm doing my homework at the moment.

[HARDCORE]

Jan 3, 2021 21:59:50 GMT ChasR said:

Given how much the engines go for, I'd buy a complete S21x E300 Turbo Diesel. That way, you can check alot of things, and break the car. You'll have a harness, box and ECUs to get the engine running. The OM606 won't require much in the way of ECUs bar possibly cold running, but the gearbox will need an ECU, otherwise, the changes may be awkward and even skip gear, which is how at least the S124 'boxes default if the 'box ECU doesn't see power.

This^^ is exactly what I did. Bought a terminally rotten W210 E300 for £300 with a few days MoT left, drove it home to make sure everything I needed worked, and broke it for parts. The engine is better than free at this point (I've sold the doors, mirrors, bootlid, some interior parts, etc), so a total bargain. You will need a gearbox controller, from here for example, which aren't cheap, but there is really no way around it. Even taking that into account they are spectacular engines for the cost.

[kevins]

I'd buy whatever cheap rwd car / van you can find that's running fine and transfer the engine gearbox and entire electrical system over(fuse boxes, modules, cluster, switches etc), only issue you may find is some engines will go into limp home without an ABS input for vehicle speed. There are still a few smiley face transits around, the engines on those are noisy and slow but do go on forever, the later engines in the post 2000 ones in low power format last pretty well but the higher power ones tend to hole pistons.

[Mercdan68]

I sold my E300 a few years back via here
The car was In superb condition, never been on the road since ......that OM606 is in something else!