I have had my car in the garage for the last week. I ended up replacing all the glow plugs and the engine mounts. I cannot believe the difference in the behavior of this vehcile. It is like a different car. Cold start behavior is definitely better. I knew I had one bad glow plug and while replacing it decided to do them all. I guess some of the glowplugs that looked good via resistance check were weak. But I am most impressed with the difference that the engine mounts made.

The idle is dead smooth and quiet. Compared to its previous behavior, this engine now runs like a sewing machine. What a difference! All of the buzzing and rattles that I have been listening to are gone. It is noticeably quieter on the road as well. An enormous difference overall. If you have a diesel with old mounts, I whole heartedly recommend replacing them.

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1985 300SD, 203,000 miles, dark blue

Lil Sarah says: "Poor old Grandma Blue Car...She's sad."

And, may I add, Ray, that you do have a diesel with old mounts, if you have not changed them (the odds of the PO changing them are slim and none).

How much time i.e. difficulty was it?
How much were they?

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Think Alternative Energy!
300CD '80 (now gone but not forgotten...)

The cost of the mounts isn't too bad. IIRC they are about $20. apiece.

It's a PITA to do the job without a lift and a proper engine support. I let the indy do it. He finishes it in one hour or less with a proper floor jack for the engine. I can't imagine doing it on my back with the hydraulic jack next to my head supporting the oil pan.

I did it just the way you described: lying on my back on the garage floor. It was not so bad. I raised the car onto jackstands at the front, so I had plenty of room. The engine is attached to each mount with only one bolt. Each mount is attached to the frame by 2 other bolts.

You will need 2 supersockets; 8mm and 7mm in my case, and a selection of extensions of different lengths for your ratchet. On my car, the passenger side mount was a breeze. Removing the old mount and installing the new one took only about 15 minutes.

Driver's side was easy with the exception of the bolt on the engine side that held the mount to the frame. That one was inaccessible from above and I did not have room to get a ratchet on it. I had to use an allen wrench to remove it and even then I could only move it one flat at a time. Since I could not see the head of the bolt, I spent most of the time trying to get the allen wrench into the hole. That part of the job was very slow and frustrating work, but not technical. You just need the patience to slog through the process. Overall it probably took me 2.5 hrs. to do the 2 front mounts, spread out over 2 evenings.

Perhaps one of the more experienced forum members can offer a tip on getting that bolt out more efficiently?

Thinking about the tools required, you also need a torque wrench to tighten the engine-to-mount bolts and a floor jack to lift the engine a little ways off the mounts so you can swap in new ones.

Since the factory manual says that the job should be done with the weight on the front wheels, I tightened engine-to-mount bolts only part way with the car in the air. I slid back under the car and torqued them to the final value once the car was back on its wheels and the jack was out from under the engine. That was a tight squeeze. If I had been a bit brighter, I probably could have blocked up under the front wheels while they were in the air and given myself some more room.

I also bought the rear mount. I noted that it required the removal of a frame cross-member near the back of the transmission. Since the forward driveshaft flex disk is right beside the mount and mine needs to be replaced, I will do those jobs at one time. Fortunately my rear mount appears to be in relatively good shape. I also plan to install a new engine shock on the passenger side. I could extend and compress mine by hand easily. It was obviously not doing much damping of engine motion.

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1985 300SD, 203,000 miles, dark blue

Lil Sarah says: "Poor old Grandma Blue Car...She's sad."

I bought a allen wrench that fit the mount..........cut it off near the bend with a air cutoff tool, and slip it into a socket and use that to take the bolt out.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I just replaced the passengers side engine mount in my 124/603 and contemplated using a 1 ton hydraulic jack. Using those type jacks under the oil pan will very likely crack the cast aluminum oil pan on a 603, don't know about a 617, even if you use a block of wood I would hesitate. I know, I have a 603 oil pan that cracked from someone doing the same thing! If you put a cement block under the alternator bracket and a couple of 2x blocks, you can use the bracket to lift one side. I did and took me less than 15 minutes to replace.

To jack up the motor, I used a section of 4x4 lumber about 18 inches long. Thicker would have been better. I inserted a couple of thin wedges of wood between the block and the pan to make sure most of the load went into the pan at the edges, instead of in the middle.

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1985 300SD, 203,000 miles, dark blue

Lil Sarah says: "Poor old Grandma Blue Car...She's sad."

When my indy did the mounts on the 603, he easily supported the oil pan using a floor jack with a thread on top. It had sufficient force to easily lift the engine by the oil pan (600 lbs.??).

How did this fellow crack the pan? The engine must not have been free to lift up and he must have put far more than 600 lb. of force on the pan trying to lift it.

I used a 2 x 8, Ray's method is probably better. I think the biggest thing with this job is to have the area cleaned first, put penetrant on the bolts and pick out sand and other crud from the allen head bolts so the tool goes all the way in. If the head strips, you could have a much bigger job.

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

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

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

Oh yes, the joys of owning an older car....

I was half way to work and my fuel gauge went flat to reserve without a light. I open the hood expecting to find an injector return line off or a burst cigar hose. I don't find anything related to fuel loss but while checking the prefilter I notice my driver side engine mount is squashed flat!

Rubber is torn and hanging out the sides but the engine does dot come out of it's support. Being that it's on the dreaded oil cooler line side, how long do they realisticly last in this condition? I've already made a makeshift "hold in" rod through the engine shock hole using a big bolt and sturdy washers. So if it does decide to break loose it won't lift out of it's seat.

And best of all my fuel gauge is stuck at 1/4 tank with the reserve light on.

I also had a heck of a time with 1 of the top cap screws/allen wrench time.
I also had to loosen the front motor shock, this gave me enough clearance
height using a bottle jack and 4x4 on the oil pan to insert the new mounts. Old ones were compressed quite allot. I also took off the radiator top hose
so I didn't break the plastic neck when I jacked the motor up.
I would say it took me a good 3 hours on my back using car ramps.

Take off the engine shock mount (3 10mm bolts fairly easy to get to with a swivel) and stick the socket through the hole.Took me less then an hour to do both with plenty of extensions (2 ft worth just because), jack stands, and a floor jack.

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Adam Lumsden
(83) 300D
Vice-President of the MBCA International Stars Section

It is clear MB considered the engine mounts very important..... they have pages and pages and pages of instructions as to how to get them installed correctly...
Did your installation require the making of the homemade position checking tool ?

If you put a cement block under the alternator bracket and a couple of 2x blocks, you can use the bracket to lift one side. I did and took me less than 15 minutes to replace.[/QUOTE]


Please, do not use concrete blocks to support cars, engines, etc. IF they fail, they fail instantly, and completly. If wood fails, unless it splits, it fails slowly.