Rear Main Seal - 95 E300 Diesel

[Friz]

Any one have experience/advice on replacing the seal for this car? It has been leaking a little for several years but in the last two months I am losing a quart every hundred miles or so. It is a 606 engine, 124 chassis. I plan on doing it myself. Any special tools needed? To access the seal is all I have to do is drop the tranny? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance, Friz

[mbdoc]

Remove the transmission, remove the flywheel, remove the rear engine cover, replace the seal & reseal the rear engine cover, & reinstall.

MB suggests new flywheel bolts, torque them & re-install the trans.

[chasinthesun]

Ive had recent experience on a 190d ,with out a lift your in for a lot of grief.If you can get a shop to give you an estimate with hrs rated you can then ask if you can bring your own parts, if yes it will save you some cash just not alot .

[Friz]

Thanks for the help. Sounds pretty straight forward. I agree about the grief part. I once changed a clutch plate in a van on my back in a parking lot. That was a much smaller 3 speed manual tranny and 30 years ago. Fortunately I have access to a hoist at the Auto Hobby Shop at a nearby Naval Air Station.

[benedict]

Did mine 6 months ago whilst the transmission was out- very straightforward. It wasn't leaking but figured I was that far in I might as well do it.

I went genuine on that one given the time/access to get to it.

Friz, just out of curiosity, how many miles on your car when it began to leak?

[Friz]

I first not the leak around 200K miles. It now has 303K.

[Friz]

not = noticed (oops)

[Friz]

I just went to order a seal and see there are 2 different sizes. I called Pelican parts but only confused myself more.

Repair size 93x114x14mm
Stock size 93x114x13mm

The parts man talked about grooves in the crank, measuring the crank, using a sleeve and what I thought would be straight forward has started to get complicated.

As I said, the engine has 303K miles and the seal leaks badly. Can I just use the Repair size and be done with it? I would like to order and have the seal before I pull the tranny.

[ILUVMILS]

Originally Posted by Friz

Any one have experience/advice on replacing the seal for this car?....

Yeah, make sure the rear main is the actual leak! I've seen LOTS of mis-diagnosed rear main seals that were actually oil pan leaks.

[moon161]

It may or may not matter. If it's similar to the 61x front main seal, the sealing face rides on the crankshaft and may have worn a groove in the crankshaft, which would limit how effective the new seal can be.

The repair seal is sized so that that when pressed home, the seal rides 1 mm over from where the old one did on the crankshaft. IMO, you lose nothing by going w/ the repair size, you potentially lose all the install labor (have to do it again) w/ the original size.

[benedict]

Originally Posted by Friz

I first not the leak around 200K miles. It now has 303K.

Probably best to have both on hand.MB dealerships let me return parts within two weeks over here, provided they are not opened or have not been specially ordered from Germany.

I used the standard seal as mine was not leaking and thought I'd better leave the option for later down the track when I do finally cut a groove in the shaft.

Iluvmils mentioned to check your pan gasket as they can leak right up where the transmission buts to the pan. Coincidently mine did right after R n R of the transmission-Still yet to replace that.

Haven't seen too many OM606 owners on the forum have their rear main seal fail, yet.

[whunter]

It was good talking with you today.


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[Jeremy5848]

My '95 E300 (198,000 miles) has a leak at the rear of the oil pan. It's not bad yet and I don't see any oil via the flywheel inspection port. I suspect it's the pan gasket rather than the rear main seal. How miserable is the pan gasket job?

Jeremy

[whunter]

Originally Posted by Jeremy5848

My '95 E300 (198,000 miles) has a leak at the rear of the oil pan. It's not bad yet and I don't see any oil via the flywheel inspection port. I suspect it's the pan gasket rather than the rear main seal. How miserable is the pan gasket job?

Jeremy

Remove the engine from the car.


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[Friz]

Once again, thanks for all the help gentlemen.

I haven't checked the oil pan yet but I will this morning.

Consenus appears to be go with the Repair size.

I had a long phonecon with whunter aka Roy at Pelican Parts yesterday afternoon. Extremely knowledgeable and helpful. Roy, sincerely, thanks for all the help.

You guys have been great.

Friz