Going to put my engine in the 300D today.

[lietuviai]

Today is the day my 300D will get its engine installed. I've got time today to finally do it. I'm going to push the car into the garage and then drive it out later today, hopefully. I've got mostly everything ready to do the job.
Stay tuned.

[lietuviai]

I'm taking a break to update the installation. As of about 3PM the engine was in the car and attached to the tranny. I had nothing but a come-along and chain to do it. I installed the tranny by hand by hoisting the front with some wire and then lifting the end and using wood blocks, block by block. After the tranny was up I then lowered the engine in. I used a bottle jack to level out the tranny to engine. I'm right now looking at photos in the Haynes manual to try to figure out which tranny line goes where. They are kind of bent up so figuring which is which is a little frustrating. Also one of engine mount bolts is missing. It's feeling like a puzzle since I have to try to figure out where are all pieces go and try to locate all the fasteners. I wouldn't have this trouble if I had been the one who took it apart. I have to start making a list of what's missing as I go.

[Ryan Z]

Lots of luck trying to make heads or tails out of the pics in those manuals.
Just a replacement engine, or rebuilt? Good luck.


---------------------
1984 MB 300 SD Turbo

[lietuviai]

A good running replacement engine. I tested it myself to be sure it was good before going to the trouble of installing it.
So far not much more progress since my last break. I finally installed my tranny cooler lines. What a PITA! It would have went much more smoothly if they weren't so mangled. They were still attached to the original engine that was removed before I got it.
So much for driving it out of the garage tonight. It'll be spending the night indoors, probably the first time in at least 7 years. I'm too tired to work any more on it.

[Jim B.]

Originally Posted by lietuviai

Today is the day my 300D will get its engine installed. I've got time today to finally do it. I'm going to push the car into the garage and then drive it out later today, hopefully. I've got mostly everything ready to do the job.
Stay tuned.

How do you do that with a diesel? Do they need spark plugs nowadays?

Good luck with the rest of the install tomorrow. You'll have something to be really proud of

[bgkast]

Good luck. Give a holler if you need help.

[lietuviai]

I'm happy with how its turned out so far. I managed to do quite well with the crude tools that I had to use for the main installation.
Bgkast, thanks for the offer. Today I'm taking a day off from working on it. I'll probably get back to it on "labor" day.
Jim, do you think I should try these spark plugs?

[lietuviai]

Interesting thing about the car after installing the engine. The front end still sits almost as high as it did before the engine was installed, even a day later. Could it be because the front springs sat uncompressed so many years?

[TheDon]

it will settle... eventually or the spring pads are the thickest ones..

[kerry]

Spring height issue after an engine changed has been mentioned before in other threads.

[lietuviai]

Do they eventually settle or will I have a "low rider".

[lietuviai]

My 300D is officially running again. It would have started on the first try but the starter is having issues. It didn't engage the first couple of tries, but when it did, it fired up very nicely. It ran very smooth and was fairly quiet.
Next problem. The tranny went into reverse smoothly but when I put in drive, I heard this loud "phftttttt". No forward! The tranny was squirting fluid from somewhere on the passenger side. I couldn't see where exactly it was squirting from but it wasn't from the cooler line. It looks like it might be coming from B1 or B2 piston cover seals. I'm hoping that it's something as simple as one of the O-rings on one of the piston covers.
Anyway I did drive it out of the garage and drove it backwards around my field a little. The oil pressure was about 2.5 at idle fully warmed up. The temp did get up to about 100C though but I didn't install the fan yet but that's because of another issue. I don't have the right alternator for it. Darn PO. He gave me a nice new looking Bosch alternator from a who-knows-what. It did fit but it definitely the wrong one. It has a B+ post with a nut and a D+/- with a single spade plug. This car should have one with a 3 socket rectangular plug.
I only installed it so I could have a pulley for the water pump. The alternator won't work for the engine anyway. It doesn't have any play for adjustment.
I'll have to track down another starter and alternator as well as figure out if just fixing the leak will solve my no forward gear problem.

[JimmyL]

Congrats on getting it running. The tranny issue and fluid squirting doesn't sound that promising. You mentioned above that the lines were quite mangled, so maybe it is just a break in one, or a bad sealing banjo?
What exactly is the history of the car this engine is going into. Was it a driver for you before, with a known good tranny, or did you pick it up with a bad engine?
At least you are making progress, and that is always good......

[lietuviai]

This car has not been driven for at least 7 years. I got it with 3 engines, none were running. One of the engines could have been rebuilt but instead I found a "low mileage", 144K, engine so it was a more cost effective route than rebuilding one. The tranny was unknown but it looked clean and may have been rebuilt or just cleaned. The tranny lines although mangled, are not leaking, not even at the banjos. The leak looks like it was coming from somewhere in the middle of the tranny on the passenger side. Everytime I put it in drive or other forward gear, all it did was squirt.

[Jim B.]

Originally Posted by lietuviai

.
Jim, do you think I should try these spark plugs?

Oh gosh, do they only come in sets of four?

And your engine has 5 cylinders? What are you going to do?