After much heartache and diliberation, I have decided to remove and replace the engine in my 81 240D rust bucket. Anyone have any advice before i dive into this project? This will be the first time I will ever lead an engine removal on an autumobile (done it on jet aircraft many times). I have helped a neighbor r/r his engine out of a 69 LeMans but, that's my only experience.

I bought this car for $800, siezed the engine as I drove away from the sale, (was never able to find or contact the seller), paid $100 to get it towed off the interstate, paid approx $50 in gas to have my friend haul it to my house where it has been sitting since November. I have access to an engine w/ approx 35k miles on it for about $600. I'm hoping to purchase that engine, do the r/r and either sell for break even or just keep as a spare family car.

Whatever happens, I have learned a lot from this experince already.

* If you walk away from it now, you've lost $950. Sounds like you're getting ready to double your loss. You've heard the saying "Don't throw good money after bad". This is what they're talking about.
* If you really need a W123 diesel, keep shopping. Now you know something about them and you'll be a much wiser buyer. If you're serious, don't limit your shopping range to your neighborhood. Be willing to shop a 200 mile radius or so.
* Put up some free/inexpensive ads for used parts. You might be able to get a portion of your cost back. In fact, a good used tranny, rear end, axles, light assemblies, grille, windshield, interior parts might even earn you more than the $950. And you'll get valuable experience taking things apart. Give it 6 months and haul the remains to a dismantler (or give it to the last customer).
* Sorry if this wasn't the answer you expected.

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ASE Master Tech
Quality Enterprises
Mercedes Svc. & Restoration
Sheridan, IN
317.769.3536

With much help from the board here I swapped a replacement engine and trans into my 300D.

Reasonably easy compared to other cars.
Not sure if easier than a jet engine, probably not.

If you swap in a 35K engine I'd say you'll want to keep it and drive it for a few decades.
The engine will last hundreds of thousands of miles.

How many miles on the chassis ?

Now, I can't say if the 240D is a good candidate for engine only
(leaving the trans in), but I did engine trans as a unit and was glad I did.

Doing it as a unit, not having to remove the hood, just used a engine hoist
with a load leveler . The load leveler made it an easy job.

In my case I lifted the rear of the car as far as possible to make the angle
easier.

Plenty of write ups here on the board on doing a swap.

Disconnect and remove fan, radiator and oil cooler.
Disconnect linkage for throttle and trans,
Disconnect all electrical and vacuum.
Disconnect exhaust (I think I pulled intake and exhaust manifolds off).
Disconnect drive shaft from tail of trans.
Connect engine hoist at three points on head.
Support trans and drop crossmember.

Lift gently.

I hate it when the manual says "installation reverse of removal".

Good Luck.

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80 300D 340K Owned 30 yrs
83 300SD 440K Owned 9 yrs - Daily Driver 150mi/day
02 Z71 Suburban 117,000
15 Toyota Prius 2600 miles
00 Harley Sportster 24k
09 Yamaha R6
03 Ninja 250

If you like wrenching and want to stick with the aged MB family, then its a great tuition and worth the price.

However, if you're interested in recouping money, I would agree with the first response. Not worth it.

I've done three engine swaps and they're quite enjoyable if you're not pressed for time. If you 'get to' instead of 'have to', I'd recommend it. Plus, the 4 cylinder will be easier than the 5's I assume. More room.

But we like to drive man, drive. Therefore, the engine swap is just an 8 hour detour (4 out and 4 in).

diesel don

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DAILY DRIVERS:
'84 300DT 298k (Aubrey's)
'99.5 Jetta TDI IV 251k (Julie's)
'97 Jetta TDI 127k (Amber's)
'97 Jetta TDI 186k (Matt's)
'96 Passat TDI 237k (Don's
'84 300D 211k Mint (Arne- Undergoing Greasecar Conversion)

SOLD:
'82 240D 229k (Matt's - Converted-300DT w/ 4 speed

your profile doesn't say where you are, but here in NY there are plenty of cars for $1500 give or take. If it's really rusty, I'd park it and start looking for another car. While I"ve done plenty of engine swaps, engine and std. trans rebuilds, I'd rather not put the time in that kind of endeavor anymore unless the car's body and interior is close to perfect. You'll still have an $800 car once you do the swap. Check your rust and see if any of it is structural before you decide. I'd vote for another car and keep yours for a donor or sell it off for
$500 with a link to the replacement engine, and cut your losses.

if the rust is not structual and you can stop it easily, then do it. I dont care if its a loss. If you like wrenching on cars, I dont think there is a better car in the world to do an engine swap on (your first swap, becuase its so easy).

Right now im in the process or swapping a 300d turbo engine from a wrecked car into a good car, its alot of work but I can tell its going to be incredible rewarding driving down the street cautiously the first time

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1981 300SD 512k OM603

Post some pictures of your rust before acting. I've seen some 123's rusted so back they were not safe to drive. If the rust is bad, I wouldn't bother with the effort but do as someone else suggested, part it out and look for a rust free one.

Do you know what caused the engine to seize?

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Pull the tranny and engine together using an adjustable spreader bar. Haynes manual has a good description of the job. leave the trans bolted to the transmission cross member and undo the (2 if manual, 4 if automatic) 17mm bolts holding it too the car. I use an impact wrench on the flex disc bolts. Leave the flex disc on the tranny and mark the driveshaft in case it gets separated. Dont ask how I learned about that

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

Listen, the only way to look at this is you paid too much for a parts car. Get what you can out of that car and find you one in better shape. It's a no brainer.......

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

Thanks for all the advice guys. I'm leaning towatds cutting my losses, or a compromise of the two. I've decided that I'm going to pull the seized engine, I just want the experince. Once I get the engine out, I'll make the decision on which way I want to go. I've been thinking about braking the engine down and trying to replace the parts I ruined, just to gain the experince of braking down and rebuilding an engine. The car is rusted bad, I'll take some pics and post for you guys.

It was a lesson learned the hard way. I picked up a really nice 83 300SD, so I have my old Mecedes cruiser I've always wanted. As far as doing the work on the 240D, time isn't really a factor (other than I can tell that my wife isn't thrilled having a car that doesn't run up on jackstands in the garage).

It sucks getting ripped off. Both by my lack of education (my fault), and someone elses crappy business practice.

Someone asked about my location, I'm 10 minutes North of Boulder, Colorado (NW of Denver by about 40 mins).

Again, Thanks for all the advice.