I hesitate to say this. Some have told me theirs are already marked.

So I am going to say in my own case I scribed a mark across the aluminum fuel injection pump flange to the engine block as a reference point of where I started.

If you loosen the Fuel Injection Lines at the Injectors and then loosen the rear lower fuel injection support at the bottom of the fuel injection pump and the 3 front 13mm nuts on the fuel injection Pump you can rotate the top of the fuel injection pump towards the Engine Block. That advances the timing. But when you do that you only move the fuel injection pump like 1/16 of an inch off of your scribed mark.

Tighten the 3 front flange 13mm Bolts and tighten the Fuel Injection Hard lines at the Injectors and start and see if it effected the smoke when the engine is cold.

The only bad thing that can happen from this is there is a front gasket between the block and the fuel injection pump and it is possible for that to develop a seeping leak if it gets damaged.

Because you marked the block and fuel injection pump flange you can always return it to where you started.


Concerning the timing Chain. Mercedes has no spec for condemning the timing chain. There is however only I think it is 3 offset key sizes. So that give some presumptive evidence that the chain can be reused at least up to the 3rd key.

When all this was argued over in the various thread the consensus was that if using the 2mm method (the most accurate and only authorized way to check it) you reached 6 degrees some said that was the time to change the timing chain.

What causes the timing chain to break. I have not read any direct evidence it is too much stretch that caused a chain to snap. Normally what happens is part of the vacuum Pump wears out and the parts fall into the timing chain and or gears and that snaps the chain or otherwise damages the Engine. Or the timer gear bushing that controls the timer end play becomes to sloppy and that play has been know to ruin a new Vacuum Pump with the risk of the vacuum pump parts falling into the timing chain and gears.

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel