I am so paranoid that when my lower line began weeping around the crimp I went: and two weeks later I bought: motor mounts, two brand new oil cooler lines at the dealership, and a set of motor mount bolts, and a bunch of tools (LOT) to do the job. I found out that my lower nipple on the oil cooler was spun out, so I headed on ebay and bought a brand new Behr one for $160 less than retail, finally got it, installed it and was all set and good to go. I tried to see how much it would take to destroy the old hoses once I had them off....and I could not break them out of the crimps....they were still extremely strong Those hoses are also VERY thick, you can saw half ways through them before you even get any oil leaking out....needless to say it was a heck of a job but I am glad I did it as now I don't have to worry about it for a looooong time. I also have no A/C belt so I don't have to worry about that either.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

When my oil cooler line went, it was only a matter of seconds before the engine locked up. I saw the oil coming from under the hood, and before I could reach the key I heard that evil sound of metal on metal. If you had it running I would suspect that the issue lies somwhere other than the bearings. You would have noticed quite a difference in the engine if you had started it with a bad set....

__________________
1983 Mercedes 300SD
1987 Mercedes 300SDL
2001 VW Passat 2.8 AWD
2007 OM642 Jeep WK 4x4

Well that's good to know! But I still need to replace them here pretty quick knowing what I know now.

__________________
I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

Thanks all for your help, especially Brian. I will try the crankshaft bolt test soon-- I was just happy to get it into the garage with a little help from my family. I thought I heard the sound of metal on metal when it first happened, but I did get it going and even when it gave up on me, I don't believe I heard any terrible sounds.

One other issue-- the new oil cooler hose (upper) got a bit of a kink in the rubber part when I installed it. Maybe this has something to do with the failure, which would be par for the course that I got it home in OK shape and then installed a part and then broke it.

So let's say it's bad... then what? I have an extra spot in my garage for another month or so, so I could either take it apart or try to sell it whole. Anybody have a similar situation that worked out well somehow? I took about 12 hours to replace the alternator last summer, so I'm not exactly going to be a guy who drops a new engine in.

Thanks again,
Brian

as if you may have twisted the line. this is easy to do if the line is stuck in the end which is supposed to rotate. if it is twisted that may have broken it.

do the manual crank over test and in the mean time hope for the best.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I tried and tried to get the 27mm bolt to budge, but no deal. All I get now when I try the ignition is a loud "chk." I'm assuming this is the death knell. If no one has any other hopeful ideas, I'll be shopping for a new diesel next week... I saw an 82 300SD for sale locally. Is that similar enough to have a lot of common parts with my 84 300SD?
Thanks for your help with my car.
Brian

If you were using a 1/2 inch ratchet and all the force you can muster, and are attempting to turn the engine clockwise, and it will not rotate, this is probably a situation where a bearing has spun or seized. I'm sorry for this unfortunate situation.

It's hard to hear rod noise over the diesel tap..

Best of luck finding another W126. I've seen some nice ones go cheap as they are now older.

Michael

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Michael McGuire
83 300d
01 vw A4 TDI
66 Chevy Corsa
68 GMC V6 w/oD
86 300E

I went out and found an 82 300SD donor vehicle, but it's not exactly in good shape itself. $500, engine seems to leak more oil than mine did, and (surprise, surprise) the oil cooler line is nearly sliced through

What are the steps from here?

1. Buy the rusty, broken tie-rod, bad-brakes vehicle and try to fix it up with all the parts from my car
2. Buy the other car and get a specific part or parts replaced on my old engine... any ideas what this would take?
3. Get the whole engine from the new one dropped into my existing vehicle

I've obviously got no business trying to do any of this myself, so if you have experience with labor costs, let me know (I'll do a search on the forum, too). The 82 is similar enough to the 84 non-California engine, right?-- it looks pretty much the same under the hood.

Thanks everyone,
Brian

What to do...

You need an engine with good compression across the cylinders- 350 psi min. I'd look for a rust bucket which was sloowww, but started quick and has reciepts of regular oil changes. Then I would put a good engine in my good body. If your body is not excellent, I'd junk it and get a very nice example and be happy.

You can pull the injectors and run a compression test pretty easy- just need some injectorline return hose for replacing everything. Valves being out of adjustment can give low compression.

Those are the finding it yourself option. You can buy one from a high-end recycler with a warrentee and compression readings -last time I looked was $1500. Which while sounding like more, might be less than getting a bad engine and doing this all again.


Michael

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Michael McGuire
83 300d
01 vw A4 TDI
66 Chevy Corsa
68 GMC V6 w/oD
86 300E

Please stop for a minute.

You are undertaking a very large project. The labor involved to do 1,2, or 3 is significant. To justify any of the aforementioned options, you must be sure that your end result is a very good to excellent vehicle. Otherwise, it makes absolutely no sense. In fact, it may not make any sense anyway. You can find a pristine 300SD for about $6500.00 and it won't need anything. Keep this in mind.

So, option 1:

This makes no sense unless the body is immaculate on the "new vehicle". You stated that it is rusty. Why spend $2000 to move parts onto a rusty vehicle??

So, option 2:

You would not use any parts from the old engine to repair your engine. If you have your engine rebuilt, you will use new parts. The cost will be anywhere from $3K to $6K, depending on how much gets done. This doesn't make a whole lot of sense, either, unless you have a pristine 300 SD.

So, option 3:

You need to determine the condition of the "new" engine. A compression test is mandatory. If the engine is a very good to excellent engine, then the cost to swap engines, approximately $1500 to $2000, makes some sense. But, even this expenditure must be weighed against the resulting conditon of the 300SD when you are finished. It's still a lot of money to put into an old vehicle, unless it's in very good shape.


None of these decisions are easy. However, if you are adamant about fixing this one, and can't consider a replacement 300SD in good to excellent condition ($4K-$7K), then option 3 is the only sensible option.

I don’t think you killed it put the car up on ramps use a floor jack then slide the ramps under the tire, use a breaker bar a 27mm deep dish socket and use your foot to try and rotate the engine. Engines that seize from oil starvation do not start and run at a later date then decide to seize at an even later date. I have purchased more cars that needed new engines when in fact it was 1 a bad battery 2 bad battery cables 3 bad starter and your car is displaying the symptoms of one of those problems. Take an hour and try to turn it over with the socket again but realize if you have a good engine with high compression and lets throw in a jammed starter for fun it can be very hard to rotate it by hand use your foot and push as hard as you can. Of course if your not too far away and you don’t mind me spending an hour changing the battery starter and cables I will give you a hundred bucks for it and drive her home I just love the looks on PO faces when after buying the car I swap batteries and drive there car away.
Dave S

I believe that your car is a model that can be push started, if so, try push starting the car. Detailed instructions on push starting, should be in your owner's manual.

Phil

__________________
'95 E300 Diesel, 264,000 Miles. [Sold it]

To push/tow start it, get it going about 15-20mph and then put the gear selector into "S"(or "2") with the key in the run position, this will rotate the engine and it should start when being pulled in this setting, or at the very least it will rotate the engine and tell you if it still rotates/is not seized.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Well, after all your posts and other threads, I decided to try the starter and battery tests. Nothing seemed to work, and then I smacked the battery contacts with a hammer just for kicks. Then she started up. (Never did get the 27mm bolt to crank, and I even bent the handle of the wrench).

However, the same problem still exists, just now I can get it started again.

The car can idle OK. Last week I tried to take it for a test drive when it died and all the threads ensued. Today, however, I just revved the engine in the garage. At 3000 RPM it began to make a loud intermittant squeaking or chirping noise and then promptly died again.

Any ideas which two (or more) parts are rubbing together to cause this problem, and is the price for fixing it any less than what I believed my options to be earlier?

Thanks for your ideas,
Brian