Just bought an '84 W123 300D Turbo - Page 4 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

ROLLGUY · #46 02-21-2015, 06:09 PM

I don't know if this is the correct one, but it works:
Oil line repair

Ceristimo · #47 02-21-2015, 10:06 PM

Well, since I'm seeing evidence of the line leaking at the oil filter housing, I'd rather just replace the whole line.
Though, it's hard to see where the car is leaking oil from, since everything is covered in a shiny layer of grease. So the hard lines might still be fine.
The oil leak(s) seem to look much worse then they actually are. On my 8-hour, 350 mile drive (the engine ran for 8 hours straight, aside from a refueling stop), the oil level did not drop on the dip stick. Which means that although everything is covered in oil (and I have a few spots on my garage floor now where it's parked) it isn't exactly gushing out or anything.

Regardless, I'd much rather just replace the whole line. They aren't actually all that expensive, and I figure I will feel very proud and get to know ol'Betsy a little better if I can pull this off.

After the cooler lines, the next step is to wait a week or two - save up a few bucks - and replace all fluids on the car and the upper radiator hose. I'll do a flush of the cooling system while I'm at it. Replacing the radiator hose is necessary since the clip on the top of the radiator's passenger side went missing, which caused the radiator to get pulled back an inch or so, which in turn caused the fan shroud to cut into the cooler hose.

Fun stuff.

Then another few weeks to save up some bucks, and then tackle the flex discs and the rear axle...

And after that (so 2 months from now or so) ol'Betsy should be good enough to take on short trips around town, I figure.

Of course, that still leaves a gazillion things broken, but hey: if you fix everything one piece at a time, eventually it'll get all done, right? This of course assuming that the rate at which things'll get fixed is higher then the rate at which things break...

As long as I can drive ol'Betsy reasonably reliable come summer, I don't really care about the lack of power locks, or an inch of play in the steering wheel, or a climate control unit that only has 2 settings: full heat, or off.

The amazing thing is that some other things that are known to break on the W123's are still working on this one. I have four perfectly functional electric windows and a cruise control that works brilliantly. Could be worse...

EDIT:
All right, so here's what I'm ordering (for now). If anyone has anything to add, lemme know. Everything is ordered from this website.

- Oil filter kit
- Oil filter housing o rings
- oil pan gasket (why not, they're cheap..., might eliminate some of the leaking...)
- Oil cooler upper and lower line
- Radiator mounting kit (comes with everything you need, though I really only need one of the upper clips, but oh well)
- two engine mounts.

Total cost will be around 220 bucks (including shipping), but as long as the wife's OK with it, I won't be complaining

EDIT: 2
Screw it. I'm just gonna order the oil wrench from mercedes source. I mean, I could cut my own wrench and that will be a helluvalot cheaper, but this way I just get good tools.
I might sell them to someone else or something once I'm done... Or just keep them, because you can never have enough tools... A short wrench, plus the open-ended box wrench plus a wrench that is grind thin to hold the fitting, while you loosen the cooler line nut. I think it's worth it...

cfh · #48 02-22-2015, 12:31 AM

From the pics I would guess you have leather seats - a lot of folks like the mbtex better but those seats don't look too bad especially for leather - just one major tear that probably would not be hard to repair. Check out Leatherique - supposed to have a good line of leather resoration stuff.

I agree with what others have said - looks like you got a pretty good example that just needs the normal work done - if you can DIY you should be fine. If you have the work done though you'll soon know why they say nothing is more expensive than a cheap Mercedes-Benz.

ROLLGUY · #49 02-22-2015, 12:40 AM

You can try dark blue shoe polish on the seats. I had a 190D with a blue leather interior that looked almost as bad as yours. The shoe polish made it look way better. Since you are removing the oil cooler lines, and the motor mounts, do yourself a favor and replace the oil filter stand gasket as well. The lines have to come off anyway, so the extra effort to replace the gasket is worth it. The gasket is a common leak on these engines, so it will eventually need replacing anyway. They only cost a couple bucks....Rich

MBeige · #50 02-22-2015, 02:44 AM

Hello and welcome.

One of the best things you can do, to boost how much you like the car, is to do a thorough cleaning. Doing this with the engine will allow you to see leaks better, make maintenance work easier, tidy up the interior (remove the dash cap if there are no cracks, or align things properly, vacuum thoroughly and restore the leather seats), provide a chance to do general and spot detailing on the exterior, and ultimately allow you to realize the true condition of the car underneath all of it. You'll also realize how quick these cars look good with some TLC.

I see those wheels in the trunk may be the original, the ones on the car are aftermarket Ronals or Intra. Not a bad deal if you require different sets of tires in your climate.

If you need to lift the car up, the proper jack points are under the jack access holes (use a floor jack with wood on the puck for support). Some say the differential housing is not a good idea for lifting, others say it is the optimal rear lift point. If you ask me, you can lift here but don't leave it on for too long - use jack stands. Place them under the rear subframe mounts and under the chassis rails. Your choice of jack stand will also determine safety level - some can have "release pins" that can get easily knocked off and drop the car on you.

Overall it looks like a solid car that needs some TLC to bring it back up to speed. Your wife will (hopefully) appreciate how much it has come along when you work on it. The fact she came with you and allowed you to keep the Mazda is a good sign.

Skid Row Joe · #51 02-22-2015, 06:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROLLGUY

You can try dark blue shoe polish on the seats. I had a 190D with a blue leather interior that looked almost as bad as yours. The shoe polish made it look way better. Since you are removing the oil cooler lines, and the motor mounts, do yourself a favor and replace the oil filter stand gasket as well. The lines have to come off anyway, so the extra effort to replace the gasket is worth it. The gasket is a common leak on these engines, so it will eventually need replacing anyway. They only cost a couple bucks....Rich

I was thinking the same thing when the OP was describing his oil leaks.

I changed that gasket out on my 300SD, and no more engine leaks! Real tough to get to and tight quarters (SD) with just jackstands though.

ROLLGUY · #52 02-22-2015, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MBeige

One of the best things you can do, to boost how much you like the car, is to do a thorough cleaning. Doing this with the engine will allow you to see leaks better, make maintenance work easier................

I was going to suggest that this be done first, but the car is obviously not moving until much of the work is done. However, as soon as the car is drivable again, I would suggest taking it to your local coin-op car wash with some good de-greaser in hand, and clean the engine bay. I am sure you won't find all the leaks the first go around anyway, but working on a somewhat clean engine is more enjoyable. It will take several trips to eventually get all the caked on oil/grease from the engine and bay. I have found the best de-greaser is "Pro-Force" available at Sam's Club. It looks like Purple Power, but this stuff eats Purple power for lunch.....Rich

EDIT: This de-greaser:

Ceristimo · #53 02-22-2015, 08:29 PM

@CFH
Betsie does indeed have leather seats. I'm sure it looked great 31 years ago. :-)
I honestly don't know how to fix the tear in the leather though. Do you glue that together? I have a feeling it'll tear really quickly again, since the leather just seems to have worn very thin.

@MBeige
Are you sure the wheels on the car are aftermarket? They look like the normal bundt style wheels to me? I don't really see a difference between what was in the trunk and what is on the car.
Having two sets of tires would be nice, but not necessary. I''m not going to drive Betsie in winter. A rear-wheel drive diesel when it gets down to -45F (-42c) is probably not gonna work very well. The summer tires in the trunk are all dry-rotted, but the studded white-wall winter tires she's currently on are in good condition. So, come May, I'm gonna just pull the studs and drive her on those tires for a while.

@Rollguy Yes, the first thing I will do when the car is safely drivable is to have it thoroughly washed on the outside, and to clean the whole inside. I like your shoe-polish trick, and will definitely give that a try when she's reasonably drivable again.

The outside of the car is covered in a thick layer of mud, since I drove it 350 miles on icy/muddy roads. It looks terrible, but right now I can't do much about it. I will definitely degrease the engine (and the front suspension) when it's all drivable again. I can't wait!!

I'm getting excited by the thought of cruising around with Betsie. Some tunes playing on the awful stereo (which I will keep, I like the '80's look of the interior, so no CD-player for Betsie), the windows and roof rolled down, and just cruisin' along, cradling that ridiculously sized steering wheel between my thighs. It's gonna be awesome!

So, as far as tools go: I have a bunch of wrenches, sockets etc. It's not like I'm tool-less. I have jack stands, two hydraulic jacks (a 2-ton, and a 2 1/4 ton) and I have 8 ton Rhino ramps that I bought to make it easier to change the oil on our cars.

So, I'll have Betsie on the ramps for easier access, and two jacks to lift the engine with. Well, one for lifting, one for backup.

The jack stands will be underneath the frame/rails of the car, just in case the ramps give way, and the rear wheels will be chocked. If I can't do it 100% safely, I don't do it at all.

Thanks for the advise guys. I will order the oil housing gasket too. I'm going to pull the trigger on my parts order right after I post this, and I'm gonna get the oil cooler line wrenches as well.

I'll stop by Home Depot or Lowe's later this week to grab myself a nice, thick, sturdy piece of wood to have between the jack and the oil pan, and I'll grab 8 quarts of synthetic diesel oil as well. I'll check the manual for viscosity. I believe it's 10w40, but I'll check that before I get the oil.

And then it's just waiting for the parts to get here and start getting some work done.

Yaay!

P.S. I keep saying how I want the car to be drivable, but truth is: in her current state she plowed through those 350 miles like a champ with not a single issue. Had I known that I'm about to lose an oil cooler line, I wouldn't have done it, but still: She really can't be in that bad of a shape if she drove for 8 hours without a single complaint. :-)

vstech · #54 02-22-2015, 08:42 PM

Just keep in mind there is no oil change interval benefit to using synthetic oil with the 61x motors. It's needed for cold weather starting which you will CERTAINLY need in AK! But it still needs to be changed around 5K miles due to soot loading.

The stores carry several brands of diesel rated synthetic oil. There is rostella blue bottle 5w40, delo silver bottle 5w40, mobil1 5w40 and 0w40. I like that 0w40 can be had in 5 quart bottles for a reasonable price...
I've not seen 10w40 available in a diesel rated variety...

Ceristimo · #55 02-22-2015, 08:50 PM

@vstech
I was probably mistaken then. I have only glanced over the user manual that came with the car. I probably meant 5w40.

I generally do an oil change on our cars every 3000 miles. I know it's probably ridiculous - especially since my wife's Toyota specifies a change every 5k, though my Mazda says every 3k - and I use the "guaranteed 15.000 miles" Mobil1 synthetic stuff, but....I dunno, 5 quarts of oil + a filter is really not that expensive, and I kinda like doing the work anyway. Gives me something to do on a weekend.
My (older) Mazda's oil comes out black after 3K, but my wife's car still is slightly gold-colored when it comes out. Probably could wait longer on hers, but I usually do them together on the same day.

Wasn't planning on going any more then 3k with the Benz between an oil change, especially since oil in diesel cars turns black so quickly. And I have a sneaking suspicion that the current oil might have been in there for a while, since the PO didn't seem to care too much. There were several jugs of oil in the trunk (all of which I brought to recycling) and some were Diesel, and some were normal synthetic. I hope he's been using the diesel stuff...

MBeige · #56 02-22-2015, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ceristimo

@MBeige
Are you sure the wheels on the car are aftermarket? They look like the normal bundt style wheels to me? I don't really see a difference between what was in the trunk and what is on the car.
Having two sets of tires would be nice, but not necessary. I''m not going to drive Betsie in winter. A rear-wheel drive diesel when it gets down to -45F (-42c) is probably not gonna work very well. The summer tires in the trunk are all dry-rotted, but the studded white-wall winter tires she's currently on are in good condition. So, come May, I'm gonna just pull the studs and drive her on those tires for a while.

Pretty sure, just look at the spokes. You can thank me later.

vstech · #57 02-23-2015, 06:24 AM

Quickest way to tell aftermarket wheels from o.e. Is pull a lug and look for the steel insert. Aftermarkets will not have one.

ROLLGUY · #58 02-23-2015, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vstech

Quickest way to tell aftermarket wheels from o.e. Is pull a lug and look for the steel insert. Aftermarkets will not have one.

And also, most aftermarket use tapered seat bolts rather ball seat. If it has tapered seats, then it is most assuredly aftermarket.

MBeige · #59 02-23-2015, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MBeige

Pretty sure, just look at the spokes. You can thank me later.

The most accurate way to determine aftermarket wheels that look like bundts is to search for any manufacturer name.

Mercedes-Benz used Fuchs-made wheels as OE equipment for bundt wheels (14" and 15" size). They do not have any name stamped to the exterior face. The inner face will have the MB p/n for OE wheels.

Aftermarket wheels have their name stamped on the exterior face. During the bundt wheels period there were names like Ronal, Intra, Centra, Melber, ATS, and ARC wheels. Even Campagnolo made a strange bundt-wheel design.

A quick glance at the spokes on the wheels of the OP's car tells me it's either Intra or Ronal. At least, on one of them.

KJB · #60 02-25-2015, 03:29 PM

Mooi he, zo'n Benz