The loosen & retorque tricke worked OK on my old VW diesel, of course that only has 10 head bolts total, lol. And it only helped the issue - didn't cure it entirely.
Anyway, the OM603 head bolts (al 27 of them, IIRC) are a torque-to-yield type. Loosen about 3/4 to 1 turn in reverse pattern, torque to 15Nm through pattern, then torque to 35Nm, turn 90 degrees, wait 10 minutes, turn a final 90 degrees. I've never heard of this being done on an OM603 but if you really REALLY don't want to pull the head, it may not hurt to attempt it. FYI, the head gaskets were revised 5 times, one of the revisions was to provide a better seal at the coolant passage behind cyl #6, where your leak is. I'd pull the head & replace the gasket. Be prepared for unexpected, unpleasant surprises (read: cracks) if the head is a #14. :-) -Dave M. > ------------------------------ > Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2006 14:33:00 -0600 > From: "Rick Knoble" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [MBZ] NON voyage! AND leaking coolant @ head gasket > > > How about trying the old - "loosen and re-torque" the head bolts > > trick? Could it hurt anything? > > I tried that with my BMW (gasp, sacrilege!) that I owned years ago. BIG > MISTAKE. If anything, I would check the torque with an accurate torque > wrench. More than likely it is time for a head gasket, or worse. Did it get > overheated? SWMBO may have overheated it and *forgot* to tell you.... > Rick Knoble > '85 300 CD > '87 190 DT
