Just wanted to thank y'all for this wealth of information that is the forum.

I wrapped up my oil cooler line job today. Threads on the oil cooler looked a lot better than I expected and lines came off (after a couple of days of coaxing with PB Blaster) without incident. Actually, they came off too easy... apparently I'm missing the oil cooler line brackets. I know the part numbers are on here somewhere.

Motor mounts were fine, no stuck bolts or rounded out heads. The interior driver's side bolt was a pain to get to, but I modified an allen wrench and eventually it worked. Had sto clean the head REEEEALLY good to get it to seat, and even then that PITA bolt was still half-packed with crud. It seemed like the passenger side 8mm bolt was threading with some resistance, but I may have forgotten how far I had already hand tightened it by the time I did the other one. For better or worse, it's snug now.

Engine shocks went in without a problem.

I was running out of time and opted to not do the oil filter housing to block gasket, but this buys me time to see where all of the other leaks are actually coming from. I'm going to pick up a steam cleaner and see where I'm at.

Also put on a new oil pan and gasket, everything torqued real pretty, just one drop of oil hanging from the drain plug overnight, so I snugged it up a bit more.

I also tightened up my steering gearbox, but maybe a little snug. There's maybe an inch of play total in the steering wheel but now the car shudders when making a tight left turn and it seemed to groan a bit more than I like. It could just be that I'm now feeling the actual condition of the worn out front end, which is probably way past due.

I cracked the turbo boost vacuum line once doing something, and then again handling it afterwards. Couldn't find hard plastic lines locally, but I found some 1/4" O.D. air line (maybe for compressors?) at the hardware store and the vacuum line fits pretty snug inside, so I'm using that as makeshift couplers for now.

Here's the best part. I took great care in preventing any oil spills working in my folks garage, and still managed to get a couple of drops here and there, and a bit of grime on the floor, but as I was pulling back into the garage to top the oil off I swung a little to wide and ran over a gallon jug of the old oil... cap popped off and dumped the entire contents into a nasty looking puddle right near the front of the garage. I'll be cleaning that up for days now.

Anyways, my 3 bits of advice are this: 1) buy 3/8"F to 1/4"M socket adapters in bulk (or, after breaking 2 adapters today and 3 adapters last year, a 5/16" straight handle driver, and an 8mm deep socket, purchase a 3/8" drive allen head socket set), 2) the upper oil cooler line came out (for me) up and toward the front of the car, contrary to some of the guides, 3) Have oil lifter/kitty litter on hand BEFORE you start any spill-prone projects.

Again, thanks for everyone's help. I wouldn't be here without it. It's a community like this that makes wrenching on these old beasts fun for a fearless noobie shadetree like me. It's hard to believe I've already logged 8k miles on what was a $750 two-ton paperweight.

~Brian

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1981 300SD 310+k - R.I.P. Maeby

You may get good information on the steering box adjustment by having the wheels off the ground & turning the steering wheel. Try both with the engine running and with it stopped. That works on the diesel ram & old ferd I used to have.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

"Here's the best part. I took great care in preventing any oil spills working in my folks garage, and still managed to get a couple of drops here and there, and a bit of grime on the floor, but as I was pulling back into the garage to top the oil off I swung a little to wide and ran over a gallon jug of the old oil... cap popped off and dumped the entire contents into a nasty looking puddle right near the front of the garage. I'll be cleaning that up for days now."
Years ago I worked for an commercial automatic door distributor. Serviced, installed, rebuilt hydraulic door equipment . Had an oil pan at workbench with about 5 inches of old oil in it. owner comes back into shop , I guess to check things out while I was gone, and proceeds to step into the oil pan with his nice new dress shoes. I caught hell. But I also laughed my butt off .
Left and went into business for myself

Petrol is good for cleaning oil off concrete.

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Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving

"I cracked the turbo boost vacuum line once doing something, and then again handling it afterwards. Couldn't find hard plastic lines locally, but I found some 1/4" O.D. air line (maybe for compressors?) at the hardware store and the vacuum line fits pretty snug inside, so I'm using that as makeshift couplers for now."

Have to mention that most vacuum line is much thicker walled than air line.
The thin lines are too inclined to collapse with a good vacuum system.

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1985 300D 198K sold
1982 300D 202K
1989 300E 125K
1992 940T

"If you dont have time to do it safely, you dont have time to do it"

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

Junkman: I'll give that a spin tomorrow, once I finish cleaning the floor.

TnBob: Ok, so maybe I'm mixing up nomeclature... the brake booster line is a vacuum line then? Does that make the lines for the door locks and everything else hanging around the engine technically air lines? Either way it's definitely the turbo boost line, comes from the overboost protector. The air hose I'm using as a coupler seems to be working. I might try to seal it up a bit tighter if it bothers me.

signut: I'm a cook and we keep bleach/water on the line for on-the-fly sanitation. One day I was trying to make someone laugh while they're watching me through the glass door on their smoke break, and had my foot propped up on the bucket. Sure enough I slipped and stepped right in... soaked up to my knee for the rest of the night.

~Brian

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1981 300SD 310+k - R.I.P. Maeby