I replaced my oil cooler lines this afternoon, and when I went to bolt the engine arms back into the frame of the car, the bolts won't line up with the arms. The engine fell back a little bit from where it used to be. I jacked up the back of the car hoping to lean the engine forward, but that doesn't seem to be working. Is there a spot where I can get good leverage and push the engine forward a couple of centimeters? Thanks

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'81 300SD

The way the arms ground out in the motor mounts, I'm having trouble visualizing how you could be off by "a couple of centimeters". The question I would have is - is it possible that your motor mounts have collapsed and that is what is causing the problem? Or maybe the driveshaft collapsed a bit at the slip joint and is now hanging up.

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Current Stable

• 380SL (diesel)
• Corvette C5
• Manx
• Baja Bug
• F350 Powerstroke
• Auburn Boattail Speedster replica

Maybe a couple of centimeters is too high an estimate. Basically the bolt won't line up and I think the motor mounts are fine seeing how vibration has never been an issue with this car. I had this same problem with a 240D, but since I was doing an engine swap there was plenty of room for a friend to push and pull on one of the arms.

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'81 300SD

Did you completely remove and replace the engine mounts when you did the cooler lines? Or did you just unbolt the engine from the mounts underneath?

I removed the engine mount on the driver's side, and left the passenger mount and shock in place.

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'81 300SD

You're going to have to keep jacking the engine up on that side until the bolt hole lines up. It's a pain in the ass (that I have been through ) it's best to keep the engine arm hovering a fraction of an inch above the mount when you go to insert the bolt from underneath. Also, you may have to reposition the mount via the two top screws. Loosen 'em both and try to line up the hole. Then torque both bolts back down, lower the engine until the arm is "hovering" and try to thread the bolt. Or buy / rent / beg a shop crane.

A friend came over and used a pry bar to leverage the engine forward off of the firewall and I was able to line the bolts up. Thanks for your replies. Sorry for the panic post.

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'81 300SD

No worries man. I remember thinking **** **** **** **** I'll never get this mother****er back in. Then I tried one more time and everything went brilliantly. Go figure. Glad you were able to get everything buttoned up.