Does anyone know what size gasket I should buy for the engine block drain plug on my W123 1983 300D? When I pulled the plug out to drain the coolant it either did not have a gasket or it fell into the great abyss of my engine.

__________________
"There are a lot of pebbles on the beach, but there's a Little Rock in Arkansas."

Logan

1983 300D Turbodiesel
1976 300D Rustdiesel

I believe it just uses permatex #2 compound.
or standard pipe dope.
John

__________________
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!

I'm not sure that I know what that is. You don't mean that pipe thread tape, do you? Because I have some of that.

__________________
"There are a lot of pebbles on the beach, but there's a Little Rock in Arkansas."

Logan

1983 300D Turbodiesel
1976 300D Rustdiesel

no a paste sold at any hardware store, or auto shop for the permatex #2

__________________
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!

Translation: "I don't know what that is."

Pipe dope is a semi-liquid sealing compound. Thread tape is not the same stuff and it won't work well on straight threads.

Yeah, I never have been able to phrase things very well.

__________________
"There are a lot of pebbles on the beach, but there's a Little Rock in Arkansas."

Logan

1983 300D Turbodiesel
1976 300D Rustdiesel

I hate to resurrect this thread, but I'm wondering this very thing. I'm in the middle of a coolant flush, and cannot find the drain plug gasket / o-ring. Either my motor didn't have one (unlikely), or I lost it (more likely).

During my flushes and drives during this process, I have not noticed any leaking from the engine drain plug. This makes me question how essential the drain plug gasket / o-ring really, is, especially once the motor warms up and everything expands and seals nicely. But of course... if MB included a gasket / o-ring, it must be there for a reason...

So can anybody tell me what material and size the gasket or o-ring is? Copper crush washer? Rubber gasket? I have spare copper crush washers from the oil change kits... it's 13mm diameter. I wonder if that would fit?

Thanks.

__________________
-1985 300TD - 324k mi on chassis. MB "Tauschaggregat" 617 motor + 4-speed conversion
Alaska Roadtrip 2009
-2002 E320 Wagon - 197k mi
-1998 E320 Wagon - 310k mi - retired

My earlier response was incorrect it uses a 15or so mm crush washer

__________________
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!

Thanks John. Is that 15 mm inside diameter?

If it hasn't been leaking without the washer, what's the risk of leaving it be? Maybe the old crush washer was stuck in the block this whole time?

Full disclosure: The block is full of the new Zerex mix at this point. I'm not thrilled about draining and wasting a $18 jug of the stuff. Obviously I should have thought about the washer earlier...

__________________
-1985 300TD - 324k mi on chassis. MB "Tauschaggregat" 617 motor + 4-speed conversion
Alaska Roadtrip 2009
-2002 E320 Wagon - 197k mi
-1998 E320 Wagon - 310k mi - retired