Reiny

Replacement seals often fail after a short period of time because the shaft will be pitted. Where I come from (Malta), we usually have them filled in and machined back to original spec. It works a treat every time. Independent dealers usually exchange the pitted shaft with a freshly machined one and they'll take the pitted one for machining later. That way, the vehicle is off the road for a couple of hours at most.

300 TDI's have a date stamped into the cylinder head on the right hand side just forward of the air cleaner.