When I got this car I was slack in doing the things you do when you acquire a car such as oil change,
valve adjustment and transmission fluid and filter.
I haven’t driven it much and I finally got around to
doing the transmission fluid and filter.

I did drain the torque converter the first time and put in a new filter,
no sweat.
The tabs on the pan look a little tweaked but
I didn’t give it much thought. New M/B factory gasket.
Cleaned mating surfaces up with carb cleaner, no goop,
recommended torque is 7.5 ft/lbs? OK, my wrench doesn’t go that
low so I use the 'grab the head of the wrench technique',
not my first rodeo, good? Good.


Oh, no. It’s still leaking from the pan to tranny mating surface. Damn.


OK, throw a hunk of cardboard under it and let it slide.
A couple months. ( I got things to do, shut up)

Back under the car, drain the pan, no torque converter, take the pan off, bang on the “feet” to get them square
under the pan so as not to over tighten.

One more time. Cleaned tranny surface, looked for imperfections.
Cleaned gasket with Dawn and a soft brush. pretty, clean.
Shiny good. Still skimping on the torque wrench.
This time I cheated and smeared a very thin, (no thinner) layer of black sealer onto the gasket.

I am proud of my work. I am KING. For about 9 hours
until the next morning.


The dreaded SPOT ON THE CLEAN CONCRETE.


I hate the spot. I’m not real thrilled with the
hunk of cardboard on the $7K driveway
either. Damn.


So, One more time. Going to get the
inch pound torque wrench,do it right.
Bought another gasket.

My hypothesis is I’m over tightening the gasket,
or, OR, the “feet” are tweaked.

Am I missing something?

Constructive criticism welcome.


JHogan

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1984 300D turbodiesel
1983 300TD