Hi guys, I have been piggybagging on these forums for some
time now, lot of good stuff, I have spent a few days just
browsing and reading some good threads.

It was about time to register and see if any could help me
out since I'm full of questions about my car's condition,
here we go.

I guess take it from the top, I bought a 1982 380SEL for
$1000 about 1 1/2 year ago, I new a lot had to be done
to the car in order to run smoothly. Since I have worked
on a lot of Toyota's etc when I was younger I didn't think
it would be a problem and estimated about $2000 - $2500
to get it right. Of course it's more like $3000 - $3500 and
still going. But it's almost there and its a nice ride.

Two months ago I had this chain rattling
sound, it took it to the mechanic because I knew that I
couldn't change the chain myself. He changed the
chain and it was running smoother but still not smooth
enough ( seems like it's sometimes missing on one cylender )
When I brought that up with the mechanic before leaving
he said something like well it runs good bla bla. I drove it
for a while and noticed pretty quickly that the car has no
power compared to before ( going up hills the car doesn't
do a nice downshift to eat the hill ) I need to floor it to
make something happen. ( maybe a timing problem ).
Also The car is starting to eat more oil, way too much,
in my opinion, I think about a quart evey 500 miles.

I have read about the leak test etc on another thread and
was thinking maybe I should find somebody to do that for
me.

Anyway yesterday I started hearing a big clonk, clonk sound
when starting the car cold. Not the same ratlling sound as
when I took it to the mechanic. Of course this is when the
car is cold, I took it to the mechanic but the car was hot
so he couldn't hear it. But he belives that it's a lifter
( probably one of them he told me ) "bring it tomorrow, we
will find the one that's faulty and get a new one".

Another note is that when driving and coming to a stop I
will hear tick, tick ( clonk ) sound, but then I'm not standing
next to the engine and can't determine if it's the same sound
as when I startup the car.

So I guess the big question is, could it be that the mechanic
didn't do a perfect job changing the chain and something
came loose. Or is it a lifter or ? Obviously if it's from the
first job I don't think I should be paying too much this time.
Unless it's something else of course.

Also if he opens it up tomorrow, what else should I
have him change ( valve seals ) something else to minimize
the oil consumption ?

I know this was a long... to long post, but I wanted to give
background info just in case, any input would be great.

Thanx,
Orn