This is the important part... the camshaft, and cam tower, marks need to line up. The crank pointer may indicate anywhere from zero, to several degrees past TDC (this would be "chain stretch"). for example, if you line up the marks each time at the cam and the pointer always reads 2° ATDC, you have 2 degrees of chain stretch. A more accurate method is using a dial gauge to measure valve lift (procedure is in the FSM) but for just cam removal, lining up the marks is close enough. Here's another photo:

How would the loosening of the camshaft bearing caps compare to an om601 engine?

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Dave

1985 190D 2.2 auto--gone
1975 240D 4-speed--storage
1985 500SEL--daily driver
1985 300TD--bad rust, soon to part out...
1982 300SD--waiting on engine from RD
1984 190E--storage
1996 Dodge 2500 Cummins--daily driver

See attached drawings for the 601 (and the 603, just for completeness). As mentioned earlier, this sequence relies upon the engine being at TDC before beginning.

Attached Thumbnails

   

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1989 250TD Wagon 5-speed, 160,000mi ::: Dark gray metallic / black cloth
1984 190D-2.2 5-speed, 287,000mi ::: Silver-blue metallic / black MB-tex ::: SOLD

Hey thanks cornblatt. That will come in handy in a couple of weeks

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Dave

1985 190D 2.2 auto--gone
1975 240D 4-speed--storage
1985 500SEL--daily driver
1985 300TD--bad rust, soon to part out...
1982 300SD--waiting on engine from RD
1984 190E--storage
1996 Dodge 2500 Cummins--daily driver

Hey guys,

just wanted to say I did mine today and completed it in about 4-5 hours. I work slow and constantly misplace my tools, plus a small lunch break.

The advice from gsxr and cornblatt was indispensable, thankyou!

my car is running ever so smooth and quiet now. No more annoying lifter noise at the DD drivethru

I took a few pics that I will post up later.

IfI could offer some advice, be careful taking the timing chain tensioner out. I 'accidently' took off the inner bolt (19mm), and the guts came flying out. Becareful. Everything else was pretty much textbook.

My timing was only about .5 to 1.5 degrees off. It looked pretty spot on, my eyesight might have been a little off lining up the cam and the sprocket, but it was definetely in that range.What is acceptable?

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93 300D 2.5 Turbo, Black/Palomino 273K
09 E350 Black/Black 41K

Zero to 3 degrees is acceptable. At 4°, the chain should be replaced. Past 4°, do it soon. Past 10°, you need to worry about pistons kissing valves and such... more details are here:

http://www.w124performance.com/docs/mb/OM60X/OM60x_Timing_Chain_TSB.pdf

Odd that the 3.0L 603 is excluded, wonder why?

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

You mean from the timing chain TSB? Simple explanation. The 3.0L 603 motor (603.96x) was only shipped to the USA in 1986 and 1987. I believe the TSB is for MBNA only, not worldwide. So only the engines in the USA were affected, from 1990-95, which were the 2.5L (602.962) and 3.5L (OM603.97x).

On second look... the TSB does not specify displacement at all, only engine type (602, 603, 606) and month/year of manufacture.

A few pics...

1st: 10 fresh new lifters
2nd: OCD on the zip ties
3rd: Using my magnet to remove the lifters

Attached Thumbnails

     

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93 300D 2.5 Turbo, Black/Palomino 273K
09 E350 Black/Black 41K

Going to substitute mine, here's some questions:

-What's the torque (nm) when screwing back the screws on the camshaft?
-What's the torque (nm) when screwing back the screws on the valve cover?
-Do I have to substitute the valve cover rubber gasket?
-Mine's an OM601, so there's 8 lifters?
-When screwing back the chain tensioner do I have to put a new gasket or
silicon will do it?

Thanks in advance for your replies guys!

With kind regards

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Mercedes fanatic

1985 200D (w124) and totaled 190D

- 25Nm for the camshaft bearing caps
- 10Nm for the valve cover
- Probably not. I just clean everything thoroughly each time (push some rags or paper towels inside the groove on the gasket and soak up all of the oil). I've reused the same gasket 4 or 5 times now with no leaks.
- Yes, that's right.
- No to both; you could probably re-use the existing metal washer/gasket.

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1989 250TD Wagon 5-speed, 160,000mi ::: Dark gray metallic / black cloth
1984 190D-2.2 5-speed, 287,000mi ::: Silver-blue metallic / black MB-tex ::: SOLD

Thanks for the fast replly, I'll do the procedure and then post the results!!

Thanks again

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Mercedes fanatic

1985 200D (w124) and totaled 190D

Did the procedure today, something didn't went ok!!

I aligned the camshaft and the cam tower and got at the crankshaft 2º BTDC, is it normal to be before??

Plenty of zip ties and marked the chain and the sprocket with a pen just to be safe!!!

Assembled everything and now the car has a very rough idle, just about hanging there!!!!

Took the valve cover off, aligned the cam and cameshaft, got the 2º BTDC, just fine but.......the mark i made with the pen was off by 4 teeth!!!!

And now????? Am I screwed??

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Mercedes fanatic

1985 200D (w124) and totaled 190D

After the engine has been rotated, the pen marks will almost never line up again. So don't worry about that. The important thing is to verify the crank, camshaft, AND the injection pump timing.

2° BTDC is odd, but my car did the same thing. Make sure you are reading the crank indicator properly, the line should be to the left of the indicator, not dead center on the line. You may be reading 0° TDC. Also, the indicator is adjustable within a 3° range... if someone moved it, the reading may not be accurate. It must be set with a dial gauge on the piston crown. In general, the setting ends up right in the middle of the 3° range (±0.5 degrees) on most engines.

If your crank & cam line up now (within a degree or two), I would check the IP timing next. Did you touch anything else besides the timing chain?

I was reading the scale in the wrong direction, it's 2º ATDC so in spec!

I followed the procedure word by word, I don't see what could go wrong,
If the problem is the IP timing, how could have that happen??

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Mercedes fanatic

1985 200D (w124) and totaled 190D