Hope this gives you a little boost of confidence. Actually, it does not sound all that severe. I went through all of this, and more, when I purchased mine over a year ago.

Do your oil cooler line first. Be sure to double wrench the fittings at both ends. I bought individual wrenches to fit, flare nut and line wrench, very good quality. On mine, I only removed the bolt going from the mount to the ext. arm to jack the engine enough. Look up, while under the car, and you will see a hole where you can access this. A little hydraulic jack and a 2x4 on the front crank pulley. (not too much! you are only looking for a little wiggle room) When you pull the old line notice how you have to turn it to snake it out and the new one goes in much easier.

Next, check your air cleaner bracket. It probably has one "arm" broken and is rattling. Replace the bracket, rubber mounts, heat shields, and o-rings on the bottom of the oil separator in one shot. ($50)

Replace your power steering filter and refill the fluid with power steering fluid.($10)

Check the rear differential mount for a ride height problem. Changing mine raised it nearly 1". ($50)

Once you are done with these items, clean the engine area of excess oil drips and go over a few of the other seals with a torque wrench. You will be surprised how much a torque wrench will cure a lot of leaks. DIY will take about 4-6 hours.

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Sam

84 300SD 350K+ miles ( Blue Belle )

Fix the oil cooler lines asap. As said above they could do a lot of damage.

Now is the rear sitting low? Bistein comfort shocks can be had for around $70 each. I don't think HD's will do anything except give you a stiffer ride. I would try to find out what is causing the rear to sag. The rear sway bar isn't a big deal snag one from a junker and if you want paint it and throw on a new set of links and bushings, figure $50 painted with new stuff.

If the rear is sitting low check:
1. rear springs
2. diff mount
3. subframe bushings.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I don't think this is caused by the gasket. The turbo drain gasket is located right on the turbo and if you had a leak there, you'd probably have a burning oil smell and light smoke under the hood after running on the highway. The more likely scenario would be the turbo oil drain grommet. It is located in the upper oil pan. To do this job correctly, you must drop the lower oilpan to replace the grommet. Before spending the time and money to do that job, make sure you aren't overfilling your crankcase with lube oil. The proper fill is 1/2 way betweeen the two marks on the dipstick with the engine cold. These cars are old and the aged rubber grommet has hardened and no longer makes a tight seal against the opening in the upper oil pan and overfilling will make them leak at the grommet.

On both of my cars with the OM617 engine, anything over that 1/2 way point on the dipstick, causes a leak at the turbo drain grommet. Actually, my wagon likes her oil level slightly lower than the 300D...something like 1/3 of the distance between the two marks. Anything over that and she leaks like a sieve.

He's backwards on this. More than likely, the airfilter bracket or, one of the aircleaner mounts, is already broken because they're a stupid design (plenty in here on that topic) and it is rattling around, and not allowing the oil separator (crankcase breather) drain to mate tight to the bottom of the airfilter housing. There is also a bracket behind the turbo that supports the breather drain which sometimes doesn't get reinstalled after some intake or exhaust service. Both issues will cause a leak.


This is a plain 'ol SD right? No hydropneumatic suspension either, right? If so, leaking/bad shocks will not cause the rear to sag. In addition to what Hatterasguy pointed out, a sagging rear is going to have to be something other than shocks... like old, bagged out springs, rusted out spring perches or a seriously crapped-out diffy mount. And, I'm pretty daggone sure that you only need take out the back seat to access the top of the shocks for removal.

With access to a lift, it might take 60-90 minutes tops to change out the rear shocks. Absolutely no need to pull the fuel tank for this!

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Willrev,

Dampers (incorrectly called shock absorbers) do not effect the height of the vehicle. Its the springs that support the weight and determine the height.

A quick low cost fix is to screw spring wedges into the coils until you can have the springs replaced. You can get them at most parts stores. To make them easier to install, put a little grease on them. You turn them with a 1/2 inch ratchet and extension: Easier to do if car is up on a lift and spring extended.

You might ask: THen what are the shock absorbers? The springs are the actual shock absorbers. They absorb the shock and store it as mechanical energy. The dampers only control the oscillation of the springs and allow them to spread the energy stored in the springs over a longer period of time.

P E H

Obfuscate clearly, please.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Shock absorption is complicated and never perfect, but the primary mechanism is both the deflection of the spring and tire and resistance to time rate change in position of the dashpot or "shock absorber". But yes, the springs do certainly store some of the energy transferred vertically when going over a bump.

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

I read the write-up on this in Popular Mechanics last month, very cool!

Bose Suspension System Link

How long before someone has a program running to bounce the front wheels and slam the car to the ground when they park?

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85 300CD
83 300TD
78 240D (daughter)