recently mr. bible expressed his displeasure with automatic transmissions. i too am having a hate moment. the car is a well used 83 300d t - a titch less than 300k miles. noticed i was losing transmission fluid. drained the fluid and put in new filter and assembled with new gasket. this is my problem. will use yesterday as an example. drove to work. put my box under the transmission. after 8 hours, not a drop of fluid had fallen on the newspaper in the box. was ready to declare victory. but just to be safe i did put the box back under the car when i returned home. well this morning i had a little puddle of fresh pink stuff on the previously clean newspaper. don't know what to do. this has been going on for some time. i did over the weekend put 'little tampons' - strips of paper towling - at various points on the transmission case. near the cooler line attachment point on the transmission; under the bowden cable attachment point; under all 6 pan bolts etc. the only leak i had was at the cooler line. re-torqued ( had this off and replaced the two crush washers with new ones when i dropped the pan) and all seemed well at least temporarily. boy this is getting long. i apologize. anyhow this is my problem. if the bugger sits for a period of time, say 12 hours or longer, i have a leak. if it sits for less than 8 hours or so, no leak. appreciate any help. thank you.

Sounds like something is contracting when cools off which takes a long time to leak, seal, gasket,etc.
Good hunting

Let me preface this by saying I am no expert and your problem could be much simpler than mine was, but here is my leak story. When I got my 81 300d I had a wicked leak that dumped about 1/2 quart per week. Leaked worse when it was cold. I spoke to a family friend who also happens to be along time MB mech for an independent garage. He said that cracks are fairly common in the 123 trans, especialy when they get old. He told me where to look. With the info I dropped the pan and found the culprit. The crack shows up through the sealing surface where the pan meets the trans. Mine was in the rear left and I was told thats the common spot. Its a hairline crack that allows the fluid to "hop" over the gasket and run the edge of the pan. This makes pinpointing the leak tough. Drop your pan and take a flash light and look VERY carefuly in the trough where the gasket sits. The mech told me it couldnt be fixed but I fixed mine so if you find a crack, PM me and Ill tell you how I fixed it.
Good luck!!!

endust, i will do as you advised. thank you.

Can't you give a few hints how you fixed the leak?

__________________
David Dodge
1982 300D Turbo Mercedes
1948 Willys Jeepster

Janko:

You may have a tired torque converter leaking down. Does the tranny engage imediately when cold (and after you have a puddle), or does it take a while to pull after it shifts into gear?

My work van does this -- no tranny juice on the ground unless it sits more than 12 hours, and after a weekend takes about two minutes to start pulling. I'm sure the converter is leaking down, but I'm waiting to have it fixed until the engine blows -- has 300,000 miles as of today!

You can check by putting some toweling on TOP of the tranny, where the little hooked over rubber vent tube is.

Unfortunately, the only fix is a replacement.....

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

The car has 40k on a rebuilt engine and trans so I had to try to fix it. It was a 300 dollar car so I had nothing to loose if I couldnt stop the leak. My guess is the PO changed the rear tranny mount and didnt align it right in the 2 positioning grooves on the carrier. Im told thats the most common way to crack it. The way I fixed it was as follows. First step was to drain the tranny for 2 days with the pan off . I had to get ALL the fluid out. Then I used paint thinner and a rag to super clean the area around the crack. Next I used an awl to push material from around the crack into it. The tranny case is soft aluminum so a steel awl can move it around pretty well. I did the awl thing on all parts of the crack I could reach. I cleaned the area again with thinner and then with brake parts cleaner for the residue. Then I used good 'ol JB Weld. I pushed it into the crach as much as possible and then filled the low spot the awl created around the crack. After it dried for a day I sanded it down to fit the contour of the pan gasket trough. When I put it all back together I used B-Sealant on the gasket all the way around. Its been 3 months and still no leak. I was told by my mech that the trans was terminal with a crack like it has so im happy so far. It may start again in time. An awl and JB Weld is no substitute for a solid trans, but for the 300 bucks I paid for the car it was the way to go for me.

psfred, thank you. not a good morning. the election results and now this converter problem. have on occasion let the thing sit for a few days. big leak. replacement is not something i want to entertain as the bugger is long in the tooth. options? drain the converter every evening and refill in the morning. park on a hill nose down. transmission stop leak. conversion to clutch. did i miss anything?

I'm sorry you're having trouble with your A/T.

It is very difficult to stay away from your other comment about the morning, but I think I am going to manage to leave it alone.

I will say, though, for me it's a GREAT morning. Not only did I enjoy shifting my manual transmission while driving in. But I also enjoyed listening to my great radio.

Have a great day,

By the time you've spent days under the car trying to repair something that may give up immediately after you button it all up, you might as well replace the auto tranny with a 240D 4 speed and solve the probelm cheaply once and for all. Additionally, you'll fall madly in love with the resulting car!

ben

Ridge,

Either that or build a manual transmission, turbocharged, intercooled five cylinder 123 car.

Have a great day,

Am I getting typecast or what? Larry, besides, the manual transmission, turbocharger, intercooler, propane injection, Flowmaster exhaust, K&N Filter, Ram air induction, Slick 50, 1650 CFM fan on the intercooler, there's always the Pollock Pines 4x4 conversion.

Ben
www.reproduce100s.com

mr. ridge, i have another one of these long in the tooth items. the second is also an 83, a 240d with a clutch. fewer miles and the paint is horrible. and the driver's seat needs the tennis ball repair. but otherwise it is ok. will do a search on the manual transmission conversion. hell anything is better than draining the torque converter in the evening and then replacing the fluid in the morning. thank you sir.