brandoncrone:

The M-B manual shows/requires pulling the engine and trans out together as a unit. I don't own a lift so I was working using jack stands not providing the highest clearance under the car. My big compressor is in storage so I can't use my air driven wrenches. The auto trans has two large bolts at the top that are hard to reach, much less put enough torque onto them to loosen them while laying on the ground (read the problems folks have with loosening the top bolt on the starter that is much easier to reach than the top bolts on the trans.). In fact, most will find they have to remove the trans mounting plate and lower the trans/engine to reach the two top bolts holding them together (ask leathermang/Greg) and then would have to jack the trans back up and re-install the trans mounting plate. I also do not own a transmission jack and I R&R'd my engine by myself. Much less the fact that for me it would be hard to drag the trans out from under the car with it on jack stands because the clearance was not great.

Once the engine/trans is out I found it a lot easier to install the torque convertor to the trans and engage the lugs and also avoid damaging the oil seal, and then lining up the mounting plate on the flywheel to the bolt holes in the torque convertor was also much easier - rather than crawling around on the ground and trying to turn the engine to line up the flywheel to the bolt holes in the torque convertor. Much less the fact I replaced the oil seals in the trans (a good idea since anyone doing this job usually already has a lot of miles on the drive train and the trans oil seals will leak sooner than later, unless they re-sealed the trans recently, and the trans oil seals are cheap).


Many folks believe they are saving time and effort by avoiding removing or taking apart stuff to remove as little as possible and will spend a lot of time and effort doing so. I did this sort of stuff as a pro for many years and although there are short-cuts that will save time and effort, I often found that it took longer to do so than it would have if I just removed everything as a unit.

I know that Larry Bible removes his 300D engine and leaves the trans in the car, but he says he cannot get the engine and trans out as a unit or it is very hard (I forget which since it has been a long time since reading Larry's post on this subject). I can remove the engine/trans as a unit with the way I made a chain sling so the engine will tilt to 45 degrees to clear the trans tunnel and radiator/condensor area. Using my chain sling set-up, I found it relatively easy to R&R the engine/trans as a unit.

That said, you and anyone else can do what they want to. I found R&R'ing the engine/trans as a unit relatively easy versus taking them apart to leave the trans mounted in the car. Seems most folks take great pride in doing things in ways other than what the engineers/techs say to do in the shop manuals - I guess they want to thumb their noses at degreed engineers and techs because they did the job "their" way (Americans traditionally hate authority and their opnions, and so will go a long way to prove them wrong or do things in other ways), and I know that sometimes the shop manual procedure(s) is wrong or harder to do, but not in this case in my opinion. You have a different opinion and others can make up their own mind on what to do.

A member who has not posted in a long time, made a living for 20 + years on M-B diesels and I recall him writing that in the event of really bad timing chain failure the rods can bend even if the pistons don't show much damage (hot aluminum certainly can absorb more impact than the steel rods or crank can and the force breaking a cam has to go someplace). I have seen my fair share of timing chain breaks with valves bent at 45 degrees, big dings in the piston crowns, and no damage to the rods or crank. Here, the piston crown to head surface clearance is very small and no room for things to hit each other much without other things possibly being damaged (like the pistons, rods, crank). I sure would hate to read a later post after an engine was partially rebuit and then failed because it was not taken apart far enough to find all of the damage (here, say a cracked boss where the piston pin goes through the piston, or a bent/cracked rod, or damage to the crank). More damage is a strong possibilty since Anon says he was "barreling" down the road, to me this means he was traveling at higher speeds/engine rpm's that tend to cause much more damage. But, as you said and I did also - only time will tell after taking the engine apart. Hopefully, a top end rebuild will fix the damage and I would urge inspecting the lower end even if doing so requires pulling the engine - but that is up to Anon.

My $0.02 Worth!
Tom

__________________
America: Land of the Free!

1977 300D: 300,000+ miles

American Honda: Factory Trained Technician & Honor Grad.
Formerly:
Shop Foreman;
Technical Advisor to Am. Honda;
Supervisor of Maintenance largest tree care co. in US for offices in Tex.