Good morning,
new owner of 83 240D, 90K original..literally a little old lady was previous owner
car has not ben abused..no rust..very nice..if anything..has not been driven enough..4 sp manual
I have ordered CD's, manuals, read this forum, etc..
my mechanical abilities are good..
i believe needs a clutch disc...symptoms are: slipping after being driven while/hot..?
i can replace...which is easier..take down transmission or motor out??
no lift but good hoist and floor area..
i may have caused this..i did service: flushed radiator..terrible looking
changed oil and filter. filthy...watched oil level..but still got too much..
did new oil castrol 5-40 get into clutch??..read about rear seal leaking??
what is normal operating temp?..
thank you...more questions to follow
john

Welcome to the forum.

It appears that you found a decent low mileage vehicle, however, clearly, the maintenance is not up to par.

The condition of the coolant and the oil certainly warrants going over the vehicle carefully for other signs of neglect.

Check the oil that you are using. Be sure that it is a diesel rated oil. I'm not sure about the 5-40 castrol. There are all kinds of oils that are perfectly suited for diesels and you can search this forum for every opinion under the sun. Personally, I use Rotella synthetic because I don't want to change oil every 3K miles. Others use Mobil 1, which is clearly a better oil and they go 7.5K with it, depending on soot.

The fact that you overfilled the crankcase should not have caused any overflow to the clutch. It's simply a matter of too many miles. I have not done this job, however, I do believe the general consensus is to leave the engine in the vehicle and drop the transmission.

If the rear seal is leaking, the time to change it is when the trans is removed from the vehicle.

I'd be willing to bet that the oil in the differential has never been changed. Time to do that as well.

The "normal" operating temperature will be about 85-90°C. If you are really working the engine hard with a/c, it can climb to 100-105°C. These temperatures demand a proper coolant ratio and a functional pressure cap on the expansion tank.

Castrol DOES market a 5-40 that specifically states diesel usage.

As for the clutch, try holding the clutch down (with a stick) and soak/brush it with brake cleaner. ( I know that getting a brush on even just a little will be tough or impossible, but maybe you'll think of something) Then, make sure the free play is adjusted correctly. If it still slips from all that tremendous torque THEN you may need to drop it. Good luck, and welcome.

__________________
'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

There is a mechanical ' go , no-go ' guage for checking to see if you need a new clutch disc.... Just a two prong arrangement which will slip past a rod which has a definite difference in the diameter after a certain point...
otherwise you might want to make sure any mechanical linkages are taken up to account for wear...

Having the transmission out of the way is not going to do him any good to change the rear tranny seal. You have got to get the CRANKSHAFT out of the way.

__________________
Jim