Quote:
Originally Posted by AZ_porschekid
How many miles do those om617's last. High failure parts?
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They are very durable engines but the lifespan of one depends very heavily on how well they are maintained, just like every other engine ever made. People love to crow about them being "500k engines" but I've seen them fail w 100k miles. Poor maintenance can really kill a diesel, any diesel.
With reasonable maintenance, they go a couple hundred thousand miles before starting to lose some compression and develop blow-by. In fact, the most important test to do on one you are considering is to open the oil cap with it running and see how much wind comes out. You should be able to lose the cap and it should stay in place w the engine idling. If an OM617 has good compression, it can be made to run and perform like new w other tuning and maintenance items performed.
There are not really any high failure rate parts in the engine but for the rest of the car, there is the usual laundry list of things that go bad on an old German car from the climate control to the vacuum system to interior pieces to...
The good news is that they are not too bad to work on and parts are still widely available. Post some pictures and more info about the car here and I'll watch the thread and offer my input.