Where to find piston
 

I have a 1990 350sdl that needs an engine. I found a donor car (87 300sdl) with a valve problem on #6 cylinder. When I took the head off I found that something rode around in that cylinder for a while beating the head/piston up in the process. My original thought was to use the more efficient head from my 350 (603.970) on the 300 (603.961) anyhow so the head wasn't a big concern but the piston is beat up. Does anyone know where I can get one piston be it new or used? This one has the X designation on the deck by #6. Thanks for any help, Tigafila

If you want a new Piston you while have to do Mercedes Parts internet search and just start looking at the various parts places and compare their prices.

At some places $50-$75 in purchases will get you free UPS shipping. Since the cost of one piston will exceed either of those amounts all you need to do is make sure that the seller offers the free shipping.

If you want a used Piston you would do best to post on as many Mercedes forums as you can find and hope someone has a dead Engine one can be salvaged from.
The problem with getting a used Piston is that intended lie or not sellers often do not tell the truth.
With a Piston the seller would have to be able to measure the Ring Grooves and Piston Skirt accuratly in order to tell you if it was a re-usable Piston or not.
Many have Feeler Gauges with wich the could measure the Ring groves with but I doubt if most Mercedes owners have a Outside Micrometers big enough to measure the Piston Skirt.

Thanks for the reply. I have done a fair amount of internet searches for new pistons but have only found sets, and they're spendy. I've also searched this forum and another to see what others do in my situation. What I've found so far is that it seems that folks find a single piston through some kind of connection they have but I've not been able to figure it out beyond that. The only listings I've found for a single piston on ebay, etc. were for non turbo older MB diesels. I was hoping that the resources of the group would turn up a source for one new or a known good used piston or ideas on where to check, who to call, etc. If anyone has any ideas for me I'm all ears. Thanks, Tigafila

Bump?