Hello All,

I've got my 86, 240 wagon in the garage and am in the process of removing the M46 transmission for clutch et. al. and a rebuild of the overdrive. I'm using my Bentley manual but have a few questions as I get into it:

1. I disconnected the shift linkage but why exactly do they have you remove the stick shift? I understand that there are wires to the transmission (back-up lights, 4th gear relay and overdrive solenoid power) but why can't I just disonnect those on the gearbox? Do they all get removed with the tranny? (the overdrive wire is still attached to the stick shift under the actuator button.)

2. That upper starter bolt doesn't seem to have clearance to be slipped out once loosened. When I remove the cross member will the transmission sag down enough to slip it free?

3. The clutch adjuster is mounted to the clutch housing side of the engine/tranny seam on my car, the cable can be easily gotten off the fork but then what? It doesn't seem to want to slip through the adjuster housing/rubber bushing so it's still sort of attached to the gearbox.

Any experience/advice would be greatly appreciated.

john

1. The stick shift must be removed because it WILL be in the way when you drop the transmission. It will not clear the hole.

2. Probably, I don't remeber having a problem.

3. The clutch cable adjuster is just pushed in to the hole in the bell housing. Just take a screwdriver, or something, and punch it out with a hammer.

Good luck,

Rene

Rene,

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. I pushed the clutch cable out just as you suggested and was able to remove the starter bolt as soon as I had taken off the crossmember and lowered the aft end of the engine a smidge. As for the stick shift, I'll disconnect the overdrive wires and be ready to feed the various wires through the hole when the time comes.

Now for one last question. How in the world do you remove that top bell housing bolt? The one above the starter motor and almost directly on top of the tranny. What size is it? 18mm, 19mm? I've got about every ratchet extension in my toolbox end to ended, plus a universal at the socket end and I can't seem to get a purchase on it. I tried sort of angling up and in along the transmission from the driver's side and the passenger's side. Ugh! Is there a magic trick? I can see it from above but I don't think I can get to it.

I'd be forever indebted if anybody can help me.

John

John,

Almost junked my 84 245 because of that damn bolt. I finally got it to budge from underneath using a 3/8 drive ratchet with at least two extensions and a universal swivel at the socket. A breaker bar is too big and there is no room to swing it once you've got ahold of the bolt with the socket.

Remember, loosen this bolt first. If you leave it for last you'll put it in a bind and just make matters worse. Don't give up on it. From the posts of the other guys, there are more than a couple of creative ways to get at it.

Good luck,

Mike

I don't have too much experiance with 240's, but before I drop the transmission crossmember, I always remove those top bolts with a wrench from above, then drop the trnamission down and remove the others. The first time I pulled a trnasmission, I had to borrow the junkyard guys tools to get the leverage from below. The rouble with that is you lose a lot of torque over the distance.

Good luck,

Rene

John M:

Yes, it's 19mm. You're on the right track; I think you need about 3' of extensions to get at it from below. Actually, I've had success getting at mine from the top using a 19mm box end wrench.

What I did was ..that extension needs to be positioned parallel with the trans, right about where the gear shift is.