I took off the valve cover to check the tappets/lifters and timing chain. The basic test with a wooden rod showed the tappets on cyls 1-3 were bad and could be pushed easily. The ones on 4-6 were stiff which means good.

I wonder if this means something more than just bad lifters and may point to something else.

About three months ago I changed the oil and overfilled it by a 1.5 qts. I drained and refilled to the right amount pretty quickly(30 miles or so). It was then that I noticed the characteristic tick tick ticking of the tappets. Could I have caused some damage oil wise that may be the culprit for these tappets going bad or do they go bad in groups like this. (I thought some would and some would not, but not all in a group like this)

Thanks for the thoughts in advance.

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Treetops
06 E320 CDI 127K Miles
87 300TD 231K Miles

99 E300 269K Miles-Sold

Follow the next stage in the checking procedure in the FSM (if it is anything like the M102 hydraulic lifters there are some additional checks to make before you call for the grim reaper. The amount of time the engine has been stopped can make a big difference to amount of oil in these thingys)

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

New lifters for the 603 are $10 each and about 2 hours of your time to replace. The replacement INA brand lifter are an updated design that should be a lot quieter than what the engine got from the factory.

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CENSORED due to not family friendly words

Not much in the FSM on next steps other than check oil galleys if 4 or more fail the push test. Ahh, yes one big part of this test I've not done and cant is run the engine...injectors are out and off to greazer to be rebuilt....ah well seems the test is inconclusive.

I've read others clean the galleys, but where are they? I dont see anything readily recognizable, but I also dont know what I am looking for.

The sponsor, PP, has INA's for 12.75/lifter so that seems to be the way to go.

Attached Files

05-2010hw.pdf (40.2 KB, 156 views)

__________________
Treetops
06 E320 CDI 127K Miles
87 300TD 231K Miles

99 E300 269K Miles-Sold

RnRing the lifters was not as bad as I thought. I finally got around to it yesterday. Probably the hardest part was getting the cam tower/sprocket marks lines up perfectly.

Thanks to this forum and this thread especially were super helpful

602 hydraulic lifter replacement (300D 2.5T) - DIY? advice needed

__________________
Treetops
06 E320 CDI 127K Miles
87 300TD 231K Miles

99 E300 269K Miles-Sold