What do I fix first?
 

Can't sleep. Just got back from the mechanic. Out of curiosity I took my car to a different mechanic to have some minor work done. He seems honest and fair and had at least twenty 240D, 300D and 300SD and other 123 and 126 cars on his repair lot. I asked him to make me a list of what needed attention since I have only had the car 6months. Here goes. What do I fix first?? I am mechanical enough to do most, but still need to buy a vacuum gauge and a floor jack.

He says the oil cooler hoses look like theve been replaced but they are definitely leaking where the rubber hose meets the metal crimp down at the bottom of the radiator. Oil puddle on my driveway and on hoses. To replace I was told would have to jack up engine and take loose from left motor mount at about 5 hours labor. Don't want a broken hose! Blown engine! YIKES.

The oil filter housing gasket to engine is leaking a little. Front seal in power steering pump is leaking. He suggested a used pump. My fluid was low by 1 1/2 inches. The vacuum pump housing gasket between pump and engine is leaking. He said to fix this and front crankshaft seal at the same time which is leaking oil. I consume one to one and a half quarts per 3000miles.

Turbo tube drain gasket is leaking a little. The crankcase breather drain pipe is leaking oil and may have a broken bracket which could vibrate this pipe and damage air filter bracket.

Rear end is sitting low - he says becasue rear shocks are leaking fluid. He said to replace them, the rear seat has to come out or the fuel tank has to be dropped. He reccomended the Heavy Duty Bilsteins to go back. My car was hit in the left rear quarter panel before I got it. The rear sway bar is close to the spring stop becasue of this, but not hitting or causing any problem, but the HD shocks my raise the height back enough to improve this. His estimate to fix it all parts and labor was parts$486.26 and labor $900. I want to go ahead and fix the oil cooler lines. Can anyone give some directions for DIY?
He replaced the vacuum switchover valves on top of my valve cover and did a vacuum check on the regulating valve on the tranny and adjusted the modulator two turns. My rough downshift is gone, my upshift is the smoothest it has ever been. But he did say the vacuum test on the regulating valve on the injection pump showed this valve is probably going bad, but is ok for now. He said whoever had been trying to adjust the tranny before was doing so without changing the bad switchover valves and thus causing more problems.

What kind of car are we talking about here?

**edit**1982 300SD via profile

You DO NOT have to take out the left engine mount to take out the oil cooler lines, after a bit of fiddling, they will snake out.

Also, before you replace the oil filter housing gasket, just try tightening the screws a bit, it should be a 5.5mm allen wrench. Two of which are best to be accessed beneath the vehicle.

It's a great running car
 

What kind of car? Well, I'm happy with it. It was a one owner - owned by a lawyer and well maintained by the first owner's same mechanic for 15 of its 22 years and was garage kept. It is not as bad as it sounds. I literally asked the mechanic today to give me everything nitpicky that he could find.

My wife is the one fussing about the oil leaks on her driveway. It really does not leak or burn that much oil. It runs down the highway like a scalded dog. I just want to do prevention. Love my car.

Wow, Big list, lot of leaks. Well sounds like you probably should start out reparing the biggest leaks down to the smallest. The crankshaft seal and the vacuum pump seal, oil cooler hose first. Man you must have one oily engine. You might think of letting your indy repair the major leaks :bulb: and you concentrate on the minor things.

Ya, it is so much easier to visualize the problems if we know the year and model....

Duh
 

It is a 1982 300sd. Overall it is in very good condition.
Working out last owner's bugs.

Took mine about a year to get over this:).

She did start in minus 20 degrees this morn
 

Hey, with those new glow plugs, she fired right up this morn in minus 20degree weather. Good compression, even with the oil drips.

Personally, if I were paying a mechanic to do this, I would just get the oil cooler hoses changed and shocks and leave it at that. Oil is cheaper than labor. Your oil consumption rate is not all that bad. Once you get the engine cleaned off its not all that hard to keep it clean .You don't say how many miles are on it but if you are over 200K you may be needing an engine eventually anyway. You may get tired of the car or some idiot may hit you and total it

It's always a good sign when it starts easily in the cold. But -20? I think you need a new thermometer! Last night was the coldest since last February in CT. About 14F, or -10C. Actually, the price your mechanic quoted you isn't too bad, I'm assuming that's doing the job all at once. The front seal is a bit of work if done right. Why don't you clean the engine off real good - it makes it so much easier to work on and you can get a better idea of what's bad and what's pretty minor. BTW, most shocks resist motion only (absorb shock) and have nothing to do with ride height. If they are gas filled shocks, that's different - sometimes they are installed to remedy sagging springs.

wasn't that cold
 

[QUOTE=Pete Burton]It's always a good sign when it starts easily in the cold. But -20? I think you need a new thermometer! Last night was the coldest since last February in CT. About 14F, or -10C.

It was 20 degrees here not minus 20. I just cleaned off the oil cooler lines. The bottom line going into the bottom of the cooler looks like it is leaking a little but not much around the crimp where the hose goes into it. I have cleaned them both well and will observe.

What is the best product for engine cleaning as far as degreasing? I have a cold water pressure washer but worry about knocking fittings loose or getting water somewhere it does not belong. I thought about buying one of those little steam cleaners with a wand at Target. I would like to steam clean the whole thing so I can tell where the little leaks are.

My car has 254,000 miles and has very strong compression. It runs like a scalded dog as we say in the south. The lawyer who was the first owner took very good care of the car and I am only the second owner. Dont' want to argue, but I don't think I am anywhere close to needing a new engine.

You can use a variety of engine cleaners in a can. they are cheap enough, and basically scented kerosene anyway. I use kerosene in a pump spray bottle. What about the steam cleaning wand at Target? I've always wanted to find a small steam cleaner. I think that would be perfect to spray down after loosening things up with the kerosene. Will, how much do those things cost and how much pressure can they develop? I've thought about attaching a hose to an old pressure cooker and putting it on a campstove, but some sort of portable, electric steam cleaner would be cool!

I would get the oilcooler lines done first thing if they are leaking at a crimp. I told a local friend this with 300SD that had the lines leaking and he just kept driving the car as he didn't want to spend the $$$ to fix. Couple of months later his car is sitting in front of garage with blown engine. :eek: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ :eek:

Relax, get some sleep.
 

Hope this gives you a little boost of confidence. Actually, it does not sound all that severe. I went through all of this, and more, when I purchased mine over a year ago.

Do your oil cooler line first. Be sure to double wrench the fittings at both ends. I bought individual wrenches to fit, flare nut and line wrench, very good quality. On mine, I only removed the bolt going from the mount to the ext. arm to jack the engine enough. Look up, while under the car, and you will see a hole where you can access this. A little hydraulic jack and a 2x4 on the front crank pulley. (not too much! you are only looking for a little wiggle room) When you pull the old line notice how you have to turn it to snake it out and the new one goes in much easier.

Next, check your air cleaner bracket. It probably has one "arm" broken and is rattling. Replace the bracket, rubber mounts, heat shields, and o-rings on the bottom of the oil separator in one shot. ($50)

Replace your power steering filter and refill the fluid with power steering fluid.($10)

Check the rear differential mount for a ride height problem. Changing mine raised it nearly 1". ($50)

Once you are done with these items, clean the engine area of excess oil drips and go over a few of the other seals with a torque wrench. You will be surprised how much a torque wrench will cure a lot of leaks. DIY will take about 4-6 hours. ;)

Fix the oil cooler lines asap. As said above they could do a lot of damage.

Now is the rear sitting low? Bistein comfort shocks can be had for around $70 each. I don't think HD's will do anything except give you a stiffer ride. I would try to find out what is causing the rear to sag. The rear sway bar isn't a big deal snag one from a junker and if you want paint it and throw on a new set of links and bushings, figure $50 painted with new stuff.

If the rear is sitting low check:
1. rear springs
2. diff mount
3. subframe bushings.

Warning Will Rev! Danger! Shyster Alert!
 

I don't think this is caused by the gasket. The turbo drain gasket is located right on the turbo and if you had a leak there, you'd probably have a burning oil smell and light smoke under the hood after running on the highway. The more likely scenario would be the turbo oil drain grommet. It is located in the upper oil pan. To do this job correctly, you must drop the lower oilpan to replace the grommet. Before spending the time and money to do that job, make sure you aren't overfilling your crankcase with lube oil. The proper fill is 1/2 way betweeen the two marks on the dipstick with the engine cold. These cars are old and the aged rubber grommet has hardened and no longer makes a tight seal against the opening in the upper oil pan and overfilling will make them leak at the grommet.

On both of my cars with the OM617 engine, anything over that 1/2 way point on the dipstick, causes a leak at the turbo drain grommet. Actually, my wagon likes her oil level slightly lower than the 300D...something like 1/3 of the distance between the two marks. Anything over that and she leaks like a sieve.

He's backwards on this. More than likely, the airfilter bracket or, one of the aircleaner mounts, is already broken because they're a stupid design (plenty in here on that topic) and it is rattling around, and not allowing the oil separator (crankcase breather) drain to mate tight to the bottom of the airfilter housing. There is also a bracket behind the turbo that supports the breather drain which sometimes doesn't get reinstalled after some intake or exhaust service. Both issues will cause a leak.


This is a plain 'ol SD right? No hydropneumatic suspension either, right? If so, leaking/bad shocks will not cause the rear to sag. In addition to what Hatterasguy pointed out, a sagging rear is going to have to be something other than shocks... like old, bagged out springs, rusted out spring perches or a seriously crapped-out diffy mount. And, I'm pretty daggone sure that you only need take out the back seat to access the top of the shocks for removal.

With access to a lift, it might take 60-90 minutes tops to change out the rear shocks. Absolutely no need to pull the fuel tank for this!

Willrev,

Dampers (incorrectly called shock absorbers) do not effect the height of the vehicle. Its the springs that support the weight and determine the height.

A quick low cost fix is to screw spring wedges into the coils until you can have the springs replaced. You can get them at most parts stores. To make them easier to install, put a little grease on them. You turn them with a 1/2 inch ratchet and extension: Easier to do if car is up on a lift and spring extended.

You might ask: THen what are the shock absorbers? The springs are the actual shock absorbers. They absorb the shock and store it as mechanical energy. The dampers only control the oscillation of the springs and allow them to spread the energy stored in the springs over a longer period of time.

P E H

Obfuscate clearly, please.
:D

Shock absorption is complicated and never perfect, but the primary mechanism is both the deflection of the spring and tire and resistance to time rate change in position of the dashpot or "shock absorber". But yes, the springs do certainly store some of the energy transferred vertically when going over a bump.

Now if only you could retrofit the Bose Suspension system...
 

I read the write-up on this in Popular Mechanics last month, very cool!

Bose Suspension System Link

How long before someone has a program running to bounce the front wheels and slam the car to the ground when they park? :D