The second binding was the valves hitting the piston head. Turns out the rockers on the used motor I had just installed were about 175* out of alignment. So much for "it was running great before I pulled it from the car."

Caveat emptor.

If the valves did hit the piston head, there is the possibility that the valve stems or heads are either bent, or damaged, and are not closing correctly, which may account for the poor running you are experiencing. Good luck

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96 E300d

OK... here's a thought. If the original timing chain was stretched 5 degrees, and you were at TDC but on the intake stroke, you'd think the cam was out 175 degrees. So you rotated the cam 175 degrees, now the marks line up, the valves won't hit, everything is cool... except the injection pump thinks you're on the intake stroke when you've changed the valve timing to make it now the compression stroke. In other words, your IP is now 180 degrees out. Fix is simple, and you don't have to screw with the IP. Set the engine to TDC, with the marks on the cam lined up also. Rotate the crank clockwise one turn and one turn only until you are again exactly at TDC... now the cam mark should be 180 degrees away from where it was. Remove the tensioner. Take the gear off the cam. Loosen the cam bearing caps a lot so the valves are all closed. Rotate the cam 180 degrees to line the marks back up. Put everything back together with the cam marks lined up and... voila.

Do this only if you think you rotated the cam almost 180 degrees to get the marks lined up during your previous work.

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1987 W201 190D

Jonl,

Your Statement:
"Rotate the crank one turn and one turn only back to exactly TDC.

I realize you typed "Forward",BUT it appeared as "back"
(That 9 year old in Latvia "Hacked Into" the Stream and altered your reply)

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'84 300SD sold
124.128