update:

The latest news from the shop is that they are
doing the rings too. I guess the "pour the
oil on the piston" method was not very
accurate. They "did some other tests" today
to determine that there were problems with
the rings on 2 cylinders.

Jeff

So, bottom line looks like 32 hours of labor for:

timing chain
valves / seals
rings (includes pulling engine out)
head gasket
engine main seals (front/rear)
fuel injectors

Does the time spent on this job sound OK?

I would have expected an engine like this to
go a while longer before needing this type of
work. When I sold my 1987 Volvo 240, it had
265,000 miles. It did not leak a drop of oil
or burn a drop of oil. It ran great. I owned
and maintained that engine since it was 60,000
miles old. It got maintained by the book. That
is probably what makes the difference.
This diesel was probably neglected. Now, if I
end up getting a million miles out of it (only
725,000 miles to go) can I still claim that it
is true mileage (aka the original engine) or
does this overhaul cancel all bets?

- Jeff

1982 240D 275,000 miles.

Jeff:

Not shocking. MB diesels DO wear out, particularly if the oil isn't changed often enough! 275,000 miles isn't bad for an overhaul -- you probably have wear just on the far edge of acceptable, and I certainly wouldn't just fix the valves and leave the rings bad -- you will have to do it all over again when they go completely!

32 hours is good -- the overhaul alone on the 87 is 50 hours by the book, plus 8 hours or more for removal and reinstallation!

Since you are rebuilding the original engine, you can claim "original" miles -- no one every gets a million miles out of a 240 without doing SOME engine work!

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!