So I know there's a lot of threads on OM603 removal I did a lot of search but i could not find an answer to my question, though ti may be a stupid question but I'm a little nervous about doing this job, it ain't my first rodeo on fixing cars as my last major MAJOR repair involved half-way tearing apart a OM648 just to replaced 2 oil cooler seals, however i never did a head gasket job before so this will be my first. The cylinder head is coming off is because I suspect that the head gasket has failed and is slowly leaking coolant into the engine oil, had a low coolant warning appear when the reservoir was full 2 weeks ago with no visible leaks, has not make milkshake of my engine oil yet however there a a faint sweet smell in the oil and the oil seems to act strange on the oil dipstick (ie slides off easily).

So this the state of the engine at the moment, i've taken out all the parts that are attached or in the way of the cylinder head (except for the diesel heater line thing attached to the head) injector lines, exhaust manifold with turbo, intake manifold fuel filter, radiator shroud and fan.



Now that i'm at this point I did ran into some self inflicting thought conflict that is giving me a mechanics block (aka writers block), and here's some my question

1.Timing chain tensioner on the left of the engine, Does it need to be remove? It looks like it's attached to the cylinder head so my logic yes on removing it, but FSM did not make one mention of removing such thing. And if it needs to be removed the timing chain tensioner must it be before or after removing the cam sprocket?



2.So I lined up my timing up according to the FSM, which the crank had to be at OT (1# & TDC) and the cam shaft on cylinder 1 has to line up to the cam bearing cap, however I noticed that my crankshaft is off 3 degree to my camshaft. It's unknown if engine was serviced prior, the seller that i bought from did say (taken with a grain of sand) the previous owner to him did work on this engine, but this poses a concern that the engine may have a stretched timing chain is the only logical conclusion on why the engine was off timed by 3 degree, or maybe engine had work done an was half-baked job. Should I just keep the chain in and retime the engine, the chain appears to be very tight, with no slack whatsoever. But see pictures for yourself and what do you think.

//Camshaft// (Image was inked for better visual)


\\Crankshaft\\ (Image was inked for better visual)


3.Camshaft bolt looks like a 12 point bolt pattern but im not sure what size socket I need. And also i need a recommendation on a camshaft holder.

Attached Thumbnails

         

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Current Garage
2008 Mercedes GL320 CDI 188k mi Repair/Work in progress
1994 S350 160k mi Garage Queen & prepping for repairs
2005 E320 CDI 203k mi Healthy & Daily Driver
1994 S350 357k mi Retried as parts car
1984 300TD 214k mi Blown OM617 Poss OM603 Swap??

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1987 300SDL 200K+
1994 S320 181K mi
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1999 S420 130K mi
1980 240D 360k mi
15+ Others that has come, stay and gone

GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
1995 E320 SE 220k mi
1984 300SD 350k mi