My starter is bad & I'm replacing it tomorrow. Problem is that it's at my sister's house. I have to carry all the tools & everything that I need in a backpack on my bike. So, can anyone help me with what I need? Since I won't have a jack & stands I need to do it from above. From searching I've figured out that I need allen wrenches, 10mm & 17mm sockets. But I'm going to need to take the air cleaner off & don't know what that takes.

BTW, getting it rolling & popping the clutch isn't an option. Any tips helpful! Thanks

The 240D is an easy one.

First Disconnect the battery.

Remove the accordion intake hose
Remove the center 10mm nut.
Flip lose the 3 clips around the sides.
Lift off lid.
Remove Air Filter element.
With a short extension and a 10mm socket, remove the 3 nuts in the bottom of the bucket.
Lift off Air cleaner assy.

With the 83 240D you have the Oil Separator bolted to the front of the Intake manifold.
You will have a pipe/hose going into the AF assy. for the blow by fumes.
It just pulls off or there may be a hose clamp.

Remove the 17mm nut holding the power cable.
There is a small screw, either a Phillips or a hex head (8mm?)

There may be an "L" Bracket bolted to the rear of the Starter to the Block. There should be 2 10mm bolts into the block.
You may want to remove this after removing the 2 10mm Allen head bolts as this will hold the starter from dropping.


Depending how tight the Starter Bolts are because of rust/corrosion, they can be a bear to remove.
I have some HF 10mm Allens I cut off with a chop saw, about 2" long.
Stick one in the Starter Bolt and use a long Box Wrench to remove them from the top.
If there is room, you may have to use a Socket big enough to fit over the end of the wrench and a long extension for leverage.
Once loose, then a Ratchet will take them out.



I just removed the Air Filter, and manifolds off a 80 240D a couple days ago in PNP, and there was the Starter just looking at me.
It was so tempting.



Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

I'm sort of stuck at this point. I had to trade the bike for my brother-in-law's truck to come home & get jack & stands. But the bottom allen bolt is being a problem child(haven't even tried the top one yet). I can only get allen wrench in about 1/8" & I'm afraid I'm going to strip it. Is there a chance it was stripped or jacked up when my transmission was changed? And if I can't get that allen wrench in there any further is there anything I can do other than take it to a mechanic?

Also, I don't see a way to get the starter out from the top or the bottom! Top: theres' a diagonal bar that looks like it goes from engine to the bottom of intake manifold that's in the way. Bottom: it just doesn't look possible. :/

Remove the diagonal bar. Loosen the 17mm nut where it bolts to the engine.

Where it bolts to the Intake manifold, there is a bolt. Think it is 12mm on one end and 13 on the other.
remove it and let the bar swing to the side.



If you still do not have enough room, remove the manifolds. there is 6 17mm nuts holding them on.

First spray some penetrating oil on the 2 bolts where the Exhaust bolt to the manifold.
The bolt head is a 12mm and the nut a 13mm as I remember or vice versa.
You do have the EGR, not sure how it is attached on the 82/83 240`s.

This will give you the most access to the Starter.

Are you sure the holes in the Starter Bolts are good and clean?

Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

remove the battery tray for even more access. this job should be easy to do from the top, really. you may have to move the transmission filler tube out of the way (gently move it). might seem like a weird question but are you large? i can slide under the car in that area and access the bolts without jacking the car up, if needed. if you're having trouble with the allen bolts, slip the allen wrench through a gearwrench so you can ratchet it out. when the bolts are loose you're going to rotate the starter to vertical in order to pull it out from above.

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1981 NA 300D 310k miles

Thank you Charlie & Sleepstar! I'm getting there but still so far away, it seems. I got the diagonal bar out of the way but there was a hose & pipe in the way so I took the hose off of the pipe & antifreeze came out! Unbolted the pipe from the wheelwell & it's out of the way(it goes up to the firewall-what is it?)

Sleepstar, I have a manual trans so the dipstick isn't there but to take the starter out that way(where battery tray is) it looks like i will have to get exhaust pipe out of the way. I am self-proclaimed "spacially challenged" so until I free the starter & start trying it this way or that I won't know for sure.

IF I have to take the intake manifold off what am I up against when trying to put it back on? I've never dealt with actual engine stuff before...just the stuff around it(starter, alt, a/c comp)...and never really anything major like this on my MB. I'm assuming there's a gasket?

I am waiting for the liq. wrench to kick in on the 17mm bolts that hold the starter bracket to the engine. I got everything else freed up & realized that the 10mm bolts attaching this bracket to the front of the starter weren't going to free the starter b/c it's wedged in w/ the bracket in place...a little forethought would have made me realize that. But, as you can tell, i'm wingin' it here!

from your description, it sounds like you took off one of your heater hoses. Not a big deal but you will have to top up the coolant again and porobably bleed the cooling system. If you do decide to take the manifolds off there is a gasket in there, Only like $10 but you will probably have to order it. I have done the starter on 2 NA w123's and always been able to get the starter out from below, I would think you should have more room on a 240d.

EJHumber: Thank you for that info...I knew i would need to top off the coolant, but I didn't know about bleeding the sys. I will research it & know that shouldn't be a problem.

Like I said, I'm spacially challenged, so I hope it comes out ok, top or bottom, w/o taking the intake manifold off.

If this isn't done tomorrow I'll have to haul my son around on my bike. LOL he'll love that!

BTW Sleepstar, I'm average to small & I can get under the car from all directions w/o problem. But i needed to get the car up on a stand b/c I'm not THAT much of a contortionist! With all of the steering & suspension stuff down there it was really tough to get the right angle on those allen bolts.

okay! i'll just reiterate that the starter will totally come out from the top without removing any manifolds. removing the battery tray just makes working in the area a lot easier. the starter itself will actually come up further toward the front of the car. sort of where the air filter would be. i'm speaking from experience, so give it a try! good luck!

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1981 NA 300D 310k miles

Yeah, I can't crawl under a W123 on the ground either, and I'm not that large. I can slide under it fine, but then have no space to work.
As far as bleeding the system goes: after you put the heater hoses back on, remove the top radiator hose, and fill it up all the way with coolant. Squeeze it a couple of times while you're filling it up as well. If it starts to bubble and the level drops while you squeeze it, that means you're burping the air out. When the hose is topped up, put it back on the radiator. Then make sure your radiator/expansion tank (not sure which one you have) is at the correct full level and run the engine without the radiator cap on, until it reaches operating temperature. Blip the throttle a couple of times while you're waiting for the engine to heat up. After it reaches 80c or so, check the coolant level through the filler hole and if it isn't bubbling, put the cap back on and you should be good to go. It would be easiest if you can get the front end lifted up a bit. Either drive it on top of some wood, or ramps perhaps? I personally wouldn't start an engine with the car on stands. Those diesels shake a bit too much for my comfort.

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"The MB W123 is so bulletproof, you can drive them forever. Which is a good thing as it takes that long to get anywhere."
Betsie: 1984 W123 300D (hobby, 280k miles)
Myrla: 2001 Mazda Protege 2.0 ES 5spd (daily driver, 130k miles)
The Turd: 2007 Toyota Camry (wife's car, 118k miles)

It has been at least ten years since I replaced a starter on a 123 diesel car (non-turbo engine in a wagon, OM617.912, car was 123.190).

Don't forget to disconnect the battery!!!

I did it all from below.

The two bolts holding the starter in place are the worst. You must really clean out the hex holes in order to make sure the hex bit goes all the way in.

I used a series of really long extensions, like two or three feet long, with a universal "flex" joint right before the hex bit socket, and a half-inch ratchet wrench, and I might have used a short cheater bar on the wrench handle. Lots of strength required, and then a loud "crack" and each bolt would come free.

Once you get all the bolts and wires holding the starter off, be prepared because the starter is heavy. You may need to move the steering left or right to create the opening that you can maneuver the starter out.

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Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

I used this method to take the starter off of my friends 280CE minus the flex joint (The starter is setup in a similar arrangement to the 240D)

I will add that the bigger the breaker bar on your initial turn the better. On my 603 a regular 1/2" wrench wouldn't move the two mounting bolts as I think it was air ratcheted on by the last person. However my full sized breaker bar got them out like nothing.

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

HELP!!!!! I got everything put back together and when I put the neg cable on battery I got a huge spark & the car tried to start. I don't see how those wires could be touching since there is a divider separating them. Thoughts?

Update: The positive cable was touching the ground(I think it's ground). On my old starter there was a narrow nut that was on the post as a spacer before the positive cable was put on. My new starter didn't have that nut so the cable was too close to the ground wire. I just took the spacer nut off the old starter & put it on the post on my new starter.

I have more to add about my experience for anyone else doing this for the first time, but that will have to be in the next couple of days because right now I'm beat!

Good job!

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!