Love my 1976 240D hate changing the oil - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

JimmyL · #16 04-25-2006, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d.delano

It's only Tuesday you should conserve your energy to fight through the rest of the week

I'm on vacation this week, so I'm hoping I don't need much energy.

Truce declared.....

yoderconsult · #17 04-25-2006, 06:29 PM

I was searching for two things:

1. If I caused any damage to the car

2. Do others have similar problems changing the filters on this model Benz

I am comfortable that no damage was done (except for the shirt, pants and many shop rags that were destroyed in the process).

And some of you have had the experience of dealing with the challenging filter location on the W115 Chassis. Your words of encouragement will be in my mind three thousand miles from now when I comtemplate taking that filter off again :<)

It's amazing that this maintenance item would be so much more difficult than any of the other tasks I have completed on this car...for me replacing the front subframe rubber mounts took less time, energy and mess than changing the oil filter once.

I do think that some of my problem has been the prefilter plastic ring not setting done properly and not allowing the bolt to get enough grip, so now that I have that knowledge, I may try this task once again.

Note: For those that feel changing an oil filter should be simple, I challenge you to try doing it on a W115, I have owned many cars mostly vintage and the MB wins the prize on oil changes...still LOVE the car though :<)

Thanks all for the advice

Palangi · #18 04-25-2006, 07:17 PM

This job on a 115 is always going to be a bit messy, but after you do it a few times you will get the hang of it. Having engine mounts in good condition helps a lot. As the old mounts collapse, you have less and less room to get snake the filter can in and out of there.

By the way, have you looked at what's involved in changing the water pump on that engine??

R Leo · #19 04-25-2006, 07:24 PM

After pulling service on 115, 123 and the 126 chassis now, I'm convinced that many tasks are better off being done from a lift. The oil filter change on the 115's is one of them... The absence of vertical hood hinges is another issue I have with the 115.

That said, I love mine and cannot wait to get it back from my daughter.

yoderconsult · #20 04-25-2006, 07:36 PM

Nothing will ever match my trials and tribulations of the oil filter...this saga is fodder for grandchildren stories someday :<)

Actually I think the best approach for replacing the oil filter is too put a winch on the engine, loosen the motor mounts and pull the engine up about 6 inches..this would make this task easier...

R Leo...I buy old VWs and Civics for my Daughters to use...they would have to pry my hands off of the MB...

And too have a car lift would be a great, I have thought about digging a service pit that I could drive the car over and work from underneath..I may need to revisit that idea as I plan to drive the MB until the engine gives which I am betting will be at least another 100k...so let's see every 3k an oil change...thats 33 more times changing that filter..where's my shovel...

Palangi · #21 04-25-2006, 07:38 PM

Actually, the worst part about changing the oil filter on that old beast was laying on my back in the dirt, with fire ants biting my a55.

When I win the lottery, a lift is about the 3rd or 4th thing I'm gonna buy.

R Leo · #22 04-25-2006, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoderconsult

R Leo...I buy old VWs and Civics for my Daughters to use...they would have to pry my hands off of the MB...

This one's special. She appreciates the uniqueness of that 115.

For graduation from engineering school, she gets the W123 240 Euro I have...anyway, a friend's daughter was killed in a Toyota, never had a chance...not gonna happen to me/mine.

katja · #23 04-25-2006, 08:26 PM

The oil filter cannister alone is a great reason to by a W123 240D. But I have always preferred the W115 body style and specifically sought out a '76 or earlier - happily hoping to learn to do my own repairs.

The first thing I learned is that it really takes another pair of hands to do many repair jobs.

The second thing I learned is that it helps if your hands are very strong and very small.

I have enlisted the help of a friend who has a lift, to help me change my oil. At least then, I can stand under the car and get soaked in it. Last time I was very embarassed at how messy I made his garage floor, so next time I'm going to take more precautions.

I use Mobil 1 5w-40, this stretches the oil change intervals a bit but I still try to change oil often as I do mostly city driving and short trips in both my cars.

I also love the oil bath air filter. I went to great lengths to remove the oiled foam filter the previous owner put on and clean and re-install the original oil filter. I wonder how hard it will be to get this huge messy thing off again!

Then there are fun things like the water pump (shop did this, I wasn't going to try!), heater blower fan (disassemble entire car to fix) and the windshield wiper linkage (still trying to fix this, think I will give up, can't seem to reach it without removing the dash and I don't want to do that).

At least it was sunny today so I drove for about an hour around town and then the highway - hitting 75 for the first time since I bought the car. I think Katja loved the high speed. The RPM's were high but it really wasn't that loud and it sounded great (wish I had a tach, though).

At the end of that run she idled smooth as silk and no smoke at all. Loving it!

-AC
'76 240D 'Katja'

andersbenz · #24 04-25-2006, 11:59 PM

Had a ’74 240D that I loved. Second time I changed the oil and filter I finished putting everything away and went to start the car. The oil pressure needle went up and…quickly came down. S**t. Turned off the engine and stepped out of the car to see a big puddle of oil. Inspection determined that I had tightened the bolt with the filter housing canister off center.

Had to get a new canister. Local MB dealer wanted $55 (in 1995). Picked one up at a junk yard for $7.00.

Thank god for oil pressure gauges and oil absorbent.

I took it as a “welcome to the club".

dabenz · #25 04-26-2006, 09:04 AM

yoderconsult, took me 30 minutes to get that bolt started the first time. Good thing I wasn't playing darts.

Since then, I've learned:
1. Always use ramps so you can get under the filter mount.
2. Center the cannister bolt in the palm of your hand when lifting the assembly, thumb and pinky do the "steering" .
3. Your other hand, slid up the side of the cannister housing, pushes the top of the cannister down a bit when hunting for the bolt hole. Pretty easy for me as daBenz doesn't have power steering.
4. The trick is to find the bolt hole before the lip of the cannister housing hits the mount.

daBenz also has a drain bolt - the receiving nut is brazed onto corner of cannister housing. Today you'd TIG weld it.

And remember: only fill to half-way up the dipstick. The rear seal likes to leak the rest.

yoderconsult · #26 04-26-2006, 09:46 AM

Thank you for sharing your method. I have been using those car ramps that are driven up on...just did not want to place my body directly underneath the oil filter because of drips...I am going to obtain a solvent parts washer before the next oil change and clean up the cannister real well and dry it. This will allow me to get right underneath it when replacing it.

I will have to check next time, but I do not think that my cannister has a drain plug. I have been loosening the retaining bolt and letting the oil drip and ooze out in all directions, a drain plug would be great on the cannister.

Interesting about the level of oil in the car, I do not have rear seal leakage but I do have a drip a day front seal leak. Is the the front seal dependent too on the level of oil put in? I have read and followed the advice of just adding halfway between the two marks and it uses very little oil between changes.

d.delano · #27 04-26-2006, 04:08 PM

Just saw for myself what a '75 240D's oil filter setup looks like. My apologies. I hereby sympathize. I take full responsibility. Reminds me of my father's '66 Healey. What a pain, and what a mess. Seems like the engineers could have been proactive on that one. The German engineers; no hope for the Limeys.

dabenz · #28 04-26-2006, 08:03 PM

Um... ...the cannister drain bolt is an "owner applied option".

d.delano, on some (non-MB) engines the cannister is sideways. Truely a pain to change, but in their time they were a great advance as gas engines started to have oil filters in the '40s. Today's stuff is pretty long lived in comparison.

yoderconsult · #29 04-26-2006, 11:16 PM

I talked with a fellow worker that also has a 76 240d. He is not mechanically inclined and after purchasing his car last year he took it to a "Jiffy Lube" quicky oil change shop. They changed the oil but could not get the filter to tighten properly so they took a breaker bar with extension (as the owner watched from the waiting room window) and they tried to tighten the canister bolt...I guess that it kept leaking? they wound up crushing the canister and not taking responsibility, they told the owner that he would have to obtain a replacement canister. THey rolled the car onto a backlot and the owner expressed concern that he was leaving that afternoon on a flight and wanted to be sure that the car would be ok, they said absolutely. When he returned a week later the car had been towed. It had a weeks worth of storage charges and cost him $500 to get the car back. When he had paid and went to the lot to get the car, the hired help had started it and was reving the engine to get it warmed up, the owner took off running and screaming to shut car off there was no oil in yet. The car is now repaired and runs excellent..and is not taken to Jiffy lubes for oil changes.

Moral of the story..

1) Never go to an oil change outlet for oil service on one of these cars and

2) Mercedes Diesels are remarkably tough when it comes to being run without oil. I am very impressed.

His experience makes my oil change story small potatoes :<)