I've been gathering all the parts to repair the broken B2 piston on my '83 300D. One question in my mind relates to the o-ring seal for the B2 cover. The Diesel Giant pictorial seems to show replacement of the seal after the new B2 piston has been put in place, and some write ups claim the seal is nearly impossible to replace without removing the transmission and warn you not to remove the old seal. Now if you are not to remove the old seal, then you must have to insert the new piston while the seal is in place. My question is, what is stopping me from replacing the seal while the piston is out and then inserting the new piston just as you would have to do if you left the old seal in place? It looks to be very doable while the piston is out, and looks like a real pain with the piston in. The other question I have is in regard to the K1/K2? springs, if my transmission was shifting fine prior to the B2 breaking, do I really need to replace those springs?
Finally a question about synthetic engine oil, is the Castrol Syntec a good brand to use in these engines?
Thanks for your time.

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'83 300D (220000 miles and counting)

Hmmmm, i did mine after the piston was installed. I also dropoed the exhaust pipe out and used a block of wood to shove the transmission over so I had more room. MB mechanic suggested the block of wood. It's not that bad. Good luck. Thanks

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83 300D 227,xxx miles, sold
86 300 SDL 130,000 miles, sold

Oh yeah, I've already gotten the old piston out. I'm just waiting on the inner bushing seal so I can put it all back together. Used a 2x4 to move the transmission over to one side, still not much room though.

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'83 300D (220000 miles and counting)

Castrol Syntec is an excellent oil, Edge is better still and a class IV synthetic (real synthetic).

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Well it was inevitable, but it finally happened, I recently became a 2 Benz owner. Just picked an '82 300SD from craigslist. Clean body, rust free, the engine runs, somewhere between 140k and 170k mileage, service records for the first 10 years or so of life, but guess what? It will only work in first gear and reverse... Looks like I'm going to be doing this B2 thing all over again in the spring.

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'83 300D (220000 miles and counting)

By the seal do you mean the seal holding the bushing in place or the seal around the outer edge at the cover?

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

The seal around the outer edge at the cover..

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'83 300D (220000 miles and counting)

Nobody have any thoughts on this? Perhaps I'll just forget replacing the o-ring then and hope that it doesn't leak around the cover.

On a side note, I'm getting really fed up with FedEx. my B2 bushing seal left Chicago 4 days ago and I live in southern Wisconsin. What's up with that? The weather was perfect yesterday, but I couldn't do a thing without that seal.

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'83 300D (220000 miles and counting)

Well, I have some thoughts about this post. The more urgent the need for the part, the less likely that you will receive it fast. If you don't really need it, just buying it for preventive sake, then you will get it the next day.

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daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
Cluster Needles Paint
New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

Well it's now been 12 days since the seals left Chicago headed for Madison. FedEx has no idea where they are or where they went. The days are getting colder and my car still sits on jack stands in the driveway. Heck even the USPS could have done better on this one.

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'83 300D (220000 miles and counting)

Well, my bushing seals finally arrived today. I proceeded to start the reassembly of the transmission. Things went mostly smoothly until.....I decided to replace the o-ring that seals the B2 cover. I soon learned why others suggest not to remove it, that slippery little bast*rd, every time I tried to push it into the groove the last little bit would kink up and the whole thing would pop out. After thirty minutes I decided to take a break and get a light as it was getting dark. Then I tried again gradually working it into the groove from both ends until I had the whole thing in except for the last kinked up half inch or so. Then instead of trying to push it into the groove I pulled it and stretched the last little bit, and it popped right in on the first try. I was amazed Every thing else proceeded as I would have hoped it to. The new piston slipped in, with a little trickery, and I got a very satisfying dribble of tranny fluid when I pushed it in. But the quarters were very tight. I'm over 6 feet and 350lb. So you can imagine what it was like. I was a bit worried about the cover because after it popped in I couldn't push it in like I had done to remove it. But the snap ring fit snugly, so Ill button things up and see how it does. I hope it does work, Ill be doing the same thing to the SD next spring.

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'83 300D (220000 miles and counting)

What was the symptom of the broken B2?

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

In my case it was rough shifting into and out of first gear, 2nd and up were ok. Or perhaps thinking about it, it may have been rough until it got into third, there was no way of really telling. Just that it was rough until it got into a higher gear and would then cruise without fault.

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'83 300D (220000 miles and counting)

I got everything back together and put 4 quarts back into the trans. I had not drained the converter. As I was putting the new oil in I noticed something, I could smell what I would describe as "rotten" transmission fluid. It didn't really smell burnt to me, but more like it has spoiled, like food spoils. After I filled it up I did not notice any leaks ( a good thing) and I started the car up and worked it back and forth between drive and reverse in the driveway. Every thing felt ok. But the sick rotten smell still bothers me. Was it "burnt" fluid? is my trans headed for the happy hunting ground? Is it possible that it may have happened when the B2 piston broke, and it was caught in time to prevent any really major damage?

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'83 300D (220000 miles and counting)

Well, if any one cares, I took the Lil Sister out for a spin tonight. She ran hot for while, but I added some more water and everything was fine. No leaks, no drips, no extra parts!
And the tranny shifts again!

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'83 300D (220000 miles and counting)