I am working on a refresh of my 240D pictured below and a conversion to 4 speed. Most of the parts are already out of the parts car and I am getting ready to work on mine. Since I have to drop to old tranny out, and the engine compartment is mostly stripped for the paint job, I am considering pulling the engine and replacing the rear main seal. I know I will have to “drop the crank” to do this, but what does that entail? Unfortunately all I have is the Haynes manual for this car (I have full MB manuals for 107, 126, and 124 and normally the overlap covers me but not on this) and it just gives you the full rebuild info. I am mostly concerned with timing chain issues. Any comments or pointers?

I also wanted to change the seals on the 4 speed. I assume the front and rear input and output seals are straight forward, but is there any way to change the O ring seals on the 3 shift levers without a full teardown of the tranny?

Thanks,

John

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To hijack the thread slightly, I'd like to know if the output bearing on the rear side of the transmission (automatic and/or manual) can be changed without taking the transmission out of the car. That is, does it slide out the back.

Ken300D

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1982 300D at 351K miles
1984 300SD at 217K miles
1987 300D at 370K miles

On the 240D rear main seal you might trying to reseal the oil pan section of the "rope" seal. I have done that job many times w/o removing the engine & completely disassembling it.
Just leave 2-3mm of the new rope seal above the pan surface to push up on the upper half.

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