more good words guys- big thanks

The car is my mother's (she said she'd give it to me in her will... ) and she wants the auto trans, (and will pay me to do all of this...so its her money buying the trans- it'll be another auto.
if I had time for a project, I'd do a manual swap, I'd LOVE a 240d MT of my own, but the car isnt mine. Mom does have an old "parts 240d" in her basement garage (which is effectively mine, she never goes down there), it's MT is ground well to peices (gear chunks came out the trans drain 10 yrs ago, its been sitting since)- point being- all I'd need is a Manny trans itself and I'd have a full donor car avail for all the other spare parts.
but I'm getting married in sept. and promised myself and the finance "no new cars until after I'm married. really, school, wedding plans, I'm hoping to co-op at a company after I get back from our honeymoon)...my motorcycle needs some work too, the finance's neon just had its cooling fans give up (specials thanks for neons.org for info on that one...) I really have no time...barely enough to swap trans' for mom...but...
she IS my mother, and I do love her...so I'll swap a transmission so she can have the MB diesel she's always wanted.

And you guys rock in the meantime =)

good ideas on those "hard to get at gaskets" though....good thinking...

-John

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2009 Kia Sedona
2009 Honda Odyssey EX-L
12006 Jetta Pumpe Duse
(insert Mercedes here)

Husband, Father, sometimes friend =)

Don't think replacing the rear seal is easy once you get the engine out. R&R of the engine is only half of that job. You still have to split the upper and lower engine cases and remove the crank. Then you get to put it all back together again.

It took me a shade over 2 hrs to yank the manual out of a 240D and that includes pulling the flywheel, pedal assy, shifter, driveshaft and assorted other trinkets for the soon-to-be conversion to manual shifting.

MBZ manuals are amazingly light and compact compared to Detriot iron.

R

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

I'd pull the engine and tranny together. It's easier to do just the tranny on a 240, but on a W115 300, forget it. My brother's was missing the two top tranny to block bolts (duh) -- only way to get them back in is to cut a hole in the floor after you take the heater core out......

Removing the engine and tranny together isn't that much more work than just getting the tranny out, and probably safer, too!

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!