Re: [diesel_mercedes] do I have to drain the tranny (auto) to change the lines?

Well, yes and no....

 

I removed the radiator and engine oil cooler, water pump and crank pulleys and the vibration dampner to get access to replace the front crankshaft seal.  I went ahead and removed the alternator (with an eye toward install the high output version from a Saab), and removed the AC compressor without disconnecting the hoses.

I had the cam cover off to check the camshaft timing, so the throttle linkage was all undone.  I had some soft motor mounts, and knowing I was going to be replacing them, I removed the big allen-headed bolts that fixed them to the arms coming off the engine.  I figured I would need to get the engine up a bit so I could drop the crank enough to replace the real main seal.  I had to disconnect the power steering and heater hoses, and the fuel and vacuum pump lines.  At that point, I only needed to remove the three nuts holding the exhaust to the turbo and hook up my engine hoist.  The transmission, along with the starter, was already out.

 

So, I lifted the engine up pretty high.  It never cleared the engine compartment, so it was never removed, exactly.  But pretty close.  I didn't disconnect the oil pressure guage capillary tube or the wire feeding the glow plugs, for instance, and the hood and grill were not removed.

 

Mark in Fort Collins, CO

-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Ditwiler
Sent: Jan 20, 2008 9:20 AM
To: diesel mercedes
Subject: Re: [diesel_mercedes] do I have to drain the tranny (auto) to change the lines?

Thanks Mark!

Did you have to pull the engine to drop the upper oil pan?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark in Fort Collins, CO" <beeser750@earthlink.net>
To: "diesel mercedes" <diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2008 9:54:27 PM (GMT-0800) America/Los_Angeles
Subject: Re: [diesel_mercedes] do I have to drain the tranny (auto) to change the lines?

Don't need to drain the transmission when removing the lines. Be prepared to lose about two cups of fluid, though, from the cooler.

I have the cooler lines out of my '79 300SD. (I removed them in conjunction with rebuilding the transmission, replacing the crankshaft seals, and whole lotta other stuff.) Mine, too, are badly worn where they clamp to the oil pan, but not yet to the point of leaking. There's supposed to be rubber around the hose at the clamp, but the rubber on mine dried up and disintegrated, leaving a metal clamp to rub a metal tube.

While I had the oil pan off and the crank dropped down to replace the rear crank seal, I decided that with 300,000 miles on this engine to go ahead and replace the rod and main bearing shells. The mains were all good; no longer with the shiny polish the replacement shells had, but certainly serviceable. Four of the rod bearing sets had signs of wear at either side where the rod cap meets the rod. Like dots about the diameter of pencil lead. The fifth cylinder (and last in the oil supply chain) actually had a chunk the size of a pencil erasure out of the very top of the rod side. The crankshaft itself was just fine. The oil pressure on this one kept above the first mark on the guage at idle on the hottest days, and would peg the meter above that, but would drop down to the 3/4-mark when accelerating. The previous owner said it had been doing that the whole time and 50,000 miles he owned the car. It would probably have gone on indefinately like that, but I'm hoping my !
efforts will have cured that problem, if it even is one.

So, yes, these low ends are fairly bullet-proof.

Mark in Fort Collins, CO

-----Original Message-----
>From: Eric Ditwiler <Eric_Ditwiler@hmc.edu>
>Sent: Jan 19, 2008 9:52 PM
>To: diesel mercedes <diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com>
>Subject: [diesel_mercedes] do I have to drain the tranny (auto) to change the lines?
>
>on a 1982 300CD.
>
>And I mean the metal lines that go all the way back from the rubber end hoses?
>
>Mine leak where they are clamped to the lower oil pan.
>
>
>I hope to get my head on tomorrow.
>
>Hoping that all the stories of bullet proof bottom ends are true

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