Hi,

Im still trying to learn more about diagnosing problems, and some of the things I see point me to a head gasket problem, as seen in my other thread. However, I have been researching, and understand that on these all iron engines such as in my 83 300D, the head gaskets dont usually go bad. However, I understand that rear main seals can and do go bad, causing a lot of oil leakage onto the ground or even into transmissions.

-A major point of leakage to the ground is dripping off of what Id guess is the transmission. The best way for me to describe it is as follows: From the fromt of the car thgere are three things that drop down far below everything else. The engine oil pan, a round housing that I would assume is the connection between the engine and the transmission, and then another pan a little farther back that Id assume is the trans oil pan. The middle, round section always has oil dripping from it.

Having researched it a little, I understand that the rear main seals go somehow between the back of the engine and the transmission, and a bad one can leak oil into the trans or onto the ground, Id assume dripping down the round piece on its way. If this is so, perhaps my main leakage is actually a rear main seal.

Id liek to know a few things:

-what the rear main seal actually seals/does
-signs of a bad one
-difficulty to replace
-cost to replace

Any help is most appreciated.
Thanks so much for all the help Ive gotten for my various questions.

JMH

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Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (116k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
2008 ML320 CDI (199k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (267k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K), 1985 300D (233K), 1993 300D 2.5T (338k), 1993 300SD (291k)