Is the OM617 turbo reliable?
The OM617 is considered to be one of the most reliable engines ever produced with engines often reaching over 1,000,000 km (620,000 mi) without being rebuilt and is one of the key reasons for Mercedes’ popularity in North America in the 1980s, as it was powerful and reliable compared to other automotive diesels of the . The OM617 was a breakthrough for diesel engines in passenger cars, providing better performance than its four-cylinder counterparts while maintaining great fuel economy. The OM617 was praised for its bulletproof reliability, often exceeding 500,000 miles with routine maintenance.