:?: I have a 1986 SDL and it has 5 cylinders. I watch for sales of similar cars and it seems most 1986's have 6 cyclinders. I noticed a 5 cylinder 1987 SDL on EBAY (could be a typo?). My history questions is "is the 5 cylinder common on 1986 SDL's? ... and was the 5 cylinder ever put in a 1987 SDL?" Thank you in advance for your help. Or if you can point me to a website where I can find that answer. Thanks :-)

If you truly have a 1986 SDL and you have a 5 cylinder engine, you do not have the engine that originally came in the car. Do you have any pictures of your car you could post? 1986 and 1987 SDLs came with the OM603 6 cylinder 3.0 engine.

:lol: Diesel, You may have just solved a problem that I've been pondering...why no others like mine? I will get my digital camera and shoot some pictures this weekend and post them in this forum. Can I assume that the EBAY 1987 5 cylinder was a typo? Or a changed engine also?

Can you post a link to the Ebay SDL? If I could see a pic of the engine I could tell you if it was a typo or a switched engine.

Diesel,
The EBAY item appeared last summer. I saved the pictures from the sale ( it was in arizona) and I will see if I can attach them to this reply. It was listed as 1987 SDL 5 cylinder. I'm still in shock that my 5 cylinder is not the original engine. The picture of the engine is real small...I hope you can blow it up to get a better look at it.

That must have been a typo, even though the pic is small I can clearly see the crossover pipe of an OM603 engine, definitely a 6 cylinder.

:oops: Diesel, I am so embarassed. When I went to test drive the car, I was thinking 5 cylinder (as advertised) and when I looked at the engine I swear I counted 5 cylinders. Maybe the power of suggestion, or I saw what I wanted to see. In any event, I went out to take a pictrue to show you, and sure enough there's 6. I'm thinking that maybe last night someone bolted another cylinder on to make me look bad :-) Thanks for your help...sorry about the false alarm. And yes, I did check to see if it had 4 wheels :-)

Irishsetter48:

There should be a 5th wheel hidden in a recessed compartment under the carpet and a rigid cover of the trunk floor. Sounds like you got more than you thought! :P Enjoy your great vehicle!

Sincerely,
Scott

P.S. Here's what the 5 cylinder looks like:
http://web.infoave.net/~ontheriver/automobiles/images/300SD_20031011_19x400.jpg

http://web.infoave.net/~ontheriver/automobiles/images/300SD_20031011_20x400.jpg
Note that both the intake and exhaust manifolds are on the right side of the engine.

-Scott