I have read that the proper clearance for the intake valve on the engine is .1mm. And I have read that the clearance for the exhaust valve is .13mm, and .3mm! Which of those is right? I would hate to blow my engine to pieces...

Thankyou for your help,

-Chris

1984 300D Turbo

Okay, I found the plate on my car which says intake .1mm and exhaust as .35mm when water temp below 30C. And it says exhaust valve clearance of .4mm when water tempt above 45C.

Would it be proper to assume that I use the figure of .35mm for the exhaust, because my engine is stone cold right now? It has been sitting since 7:00pm yesterday, so I would assume it is stone cold.....

.35mm (.014") for the exhaust valve is correct.

.10mm (.004") for the intake valve is correct.

Yep that's cold enough, and Brian's got the propper clearance I let mine sit overnight before I adjusted them. Most likely the feeler gauge you use will take the decimal out to three places and the third digit won't be "0" but some other number, making it not quite 0.1 mm or 0.35 mm. Don't worry about that. The difference is insignificant. Don't be afraid to do this job because its really suprisingly easy. You don't even need the special wrenches, IMHO. If you don't do as I did and leave one of the locknuts loose for a week and wonder what in the heck that weird thumping noise coming from your engine was, it really makes it run better if it hasn't been done in a while.

__________________
Seth

1984 300D 225K
1985 300D Donor body
1985 300D Turbo 165K. Totaled. Donor Engine. It runs!!!
1980 300SD 311K My New Baby.
1979 BMW 633csi 62K+++? Dead odo