Bad transmission
 

I have a 1983 300Sd 5 cylinder turbo diesel. Son came out of school and would not go anywhere in Reverse and Barely moved in drive.

Is it truly gone. Does not seem to have leak or be low on fluid. At least if I pull out the trans I can change the rear engine seal. Is it hard to remove with the engine still in or do I need to pull that also?

Is there a rebuild kit where I can do it myself. My car port is probably not clean enough for that. But I am willing to try it anyway.

Robert

You can't pull the tranny without getting the engine out.
You will need some sort of hoist for that which can handle at least 800lbs.

But maybe if you describe the symptoms better some of the mb whizzes here can shed some light on the problem. To me it sounds that it could be the torque converter but what do i know about automatic transmissions.

The transmission can be pulled independently of the motor.

If you are working in a home setting, some would probably argue it isn't that much more work to pull the two as a unit, if you have access to a crane.

my tranny is still going 351,000 miles

I thought I heard that in order to replace the rear main seal, that you also need to remove lower portions of the engine. Upper oil pan, I think? I don't think it's as simple as removing the transmission, like on most engines I've seen.

I don't think it is feasible to change the rear main seal with the engine in the car. Are you sure its leaking? They are not prone to leakage even with a lot of miles.

There's some good threads hear on how to replace the rear main without getting the crank out. But yes you have to remove the upper oil pan and then you probably wanna replace the front main seal which requires removing the balancing disk. It's not hard hard but it'll take some time and effort.

On 60X engines, the rear main can be replaced without much fuss (once the transmission is out). The procedure is similar to replacing a front main. Not sure about the 617's. This video is an E320, but the procedure is the same:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2LHMEf0ZcU

The very least you have to do is remove on oil spray jet from one cylinder so you can lift the crank enough to place the seal in the groove. When i worked on my upper pan i opted for replacing just the half of the seal, ended up with no leaks and didn't have to mess with the crank. But if OP's rear main is leaking then going for a full replacement may be a better option.

Helpful as always.



A 60x crank seal and a 61x crank seal are very different excercises.


As for the trans, sudden failure when the car is sitting is uncommon. I've had cooler lines rupture and drain the trans before. As stated verify the fluid level and make sure the cooler lines aren't broken before you go any further.

solenoid
 

A local electric mechanic that I cook with mention check the solenoid on the trans. It is not even back at my house yet I still have second hand info.

If oil is leaking where is coming from that is not the front or rear seal. Did the oil filter connection this year and about 3 oil pan gaskets have been changed in the last 5 years.

turbo drain, oil filer housing.

Oil also leaks a lot from the rocker cover gasket on an OM617

The only way to find an oil leak is to look, not hypothesize. If the rear main seal, I think you would see/feel it on the torque converter, but consider that dripping oil can blow backwards while driving. Usually look for the highest and more forward point that is wet with oil. Rollguy posted recently how to change the rear "rope" seal without removing the crank, but I recall the upper oil pan had to come off. I recall he did that with engine out of car, but hanging. There is a pin that prevents pulling the rear seal around in the groove like one can with a Chevy small block.

First thing to check is if your shifter is actually shifting the transmission. The plastic bushings often fall out, so you might have to go to P to get R, and such. Usually, you notice that because it will no longer start with shifter in P (because tranny isn't in P). Have someone move the shifter, while you look at the tranny lever from below. Another fairly easy fix is the "B2 piston", but I forgot the symptoms (many posts).