I suspected a collapsed cam follower making my clacking noise so I replaced them all with new ones. same noise different tone. basically I just removed the old ones and took the new ones out of the plastic and installed. Is there something I was suppose to do to the followers before install?

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1993 MB 300D 245K died.

What you were supposed to do with the cam off is press on each of the old lifters to feel for the soft ones. An update to the FSM says to use a suction device rather than a magnet to extract the lifters. Magnetizing the lifter can cause it to trap metal particles flowing in the oil.

You might have the same problem with new lifters if your car has the original head gasket. The head gasket can disintegrate around the high pressure feed to the head sending debris that clogs the lifter supply ports and the lifters themselves. If you see oil seeping between the head and block leaving a mess on the chain tensioner and alternator, it could be the head gasket failing. The FSM says nothing about retourqing.

Sixto
MB-less

its all clean and oil pressure is good, I used my mark one Mod 0 nose pickers to install the new ones. I used compress air to blow out the ports. the click/clack noise follows the cam exactly. I am sooooo close to getting this EuroTrashbeetch perfect it's killing me. I got a new cam coming and on the off chance I got a bad one out of the box I'll double check.

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1993 MB 300D 245K died.

Change of tack. Press on the belt damper upper attachment with a stick or screwdriver while the engine's idling. Also pry it away from the head. It's amazing how much like a worn lifter a bad damper upper attachment can sound. If that's not it, loosen each injector line while the engine's idling to see if the clacking stops. Then if you don't mind pulling the valve cover again, see if any lifter feels soft when the cam lobe is pointing away.

Sixto
MB-less

I already cracked the injector lines to see if I had a bad injector, still got the tapping sound. could an improperly installed, worn or bent cam shaft cause the noise?

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1993 MB 300D 245K died.

It could be the cam but there'd be a lot of other damage if the cam were bent such as visible wear on the cam journals and bearing surfaces. It'd snap before long.

You can also remove the bolt holding the upper attachment of the belt damper to the head then retain the damper end so it doesn't tuck into somewhere it shouldn't go. Don't worry about the clamp holding the belt tensioner anchor. It's not going anywhere.

Sixto
MB-less