560sl timing questions

[Hatebreed]

My car has 107,000 miles. Today I checked my stretch and found it to be 10 Degrees. I plan on changing the upper guide rails, chain, and tensioner. Does anyone recommend replacing the guide rail at the tensioner? ( banana shape rail ) Is this part prone to failure? My car makes no noise and runs excellent. I have grown paranoid and can no longer drive without worrying about a engine failure. Any info would be appreciated.

[dpetryk]

At 100k I would change all of them and quit worrying about it.

[donbryce]

I did my chain, the 4 upper guides, and the tensioner recently. Not a hard job, just tricky for a first timer. The tensioner is a 2 part affair, a nylon wear guide which kind of clips to an aluminum rail. I believe the nylon part is available as a separate piece from the dealer. I couldn't find this on-line anywhere, so for the money, I just ordered the whole part. Price was probably what I'd have paid the dealer for the nylon part alone.
Either way, if you're going in to do the chain and the other guides, it makes no sense at all not to do the tensioner as well. At the mileage you state, it probably has some wear grooves in it. From what I've been reading here, this is not a part prone to breakage like the stupid nylon guides. My engine had 2 broken pieces of guide rail lodged one on each side of the front cover just above the oil pan.

[Hatebreed]

Yes, I think you are right. I have inspected the right side and the job looks pretty straight forward. It makes little sense to not change the part, even if the only result is piece of mind. I am going to fashion my own tool to remove the guide pins. I have seen some for sale but I think I can produce something that will work. Thanks for the advice!!

[Roncallo]

Yes the one at the tensioner is the only one that really wears. The others just get old and brittle. Once you remove the tensioner rail you will be glad you did.

John Roncallo

[GSMITH]

If you are going to make your own pin puller make sure you use hardend bolts. Otherwise you will strip out the pins and have to retap them.
Don't ask me how I know I even had one bolt snap that I needed to drill out.

Also take a good look at the real ones. They have a notch in them where they will rest against the head. This allows the tool to stay straight when pulling force is applied.

It is amazing how much force it takes to get those pins out after 20 years.

Do not forget the crush washers for the valve cover. Cheap online if you by them with the other parts. You should replace the plastic parts of the oiler tube also while you are in there.

Phil has good prices for genuine MB parts. Give him a call.

[travellerdogs]

I just did timing chain and all plastic guide rails on my 380SL. I made the pin puller, it is a lot of hassle so for my next job (I have an 81 380SL also, it has already been converted to double row) I ordered the pin puller and tool for rolling in the timing chain from Zmak. They are based in Florida. Pin puller costs $29.95 and the chain guide tool is around $69.95 both well worth the price and excellent quality tools. Google Zmak and voila,you will find their web site. When you do the guides unbolt the chain sprocket on the pass side but make sure you use tie straps to keep the chain on the sprocket. Drivers side top rail is a ***** to get out otherwise. Also the tensioner guide rail is much easier to do when the sprocket is unbolted. Unscrew the plug on the face of the timing cover(allen head socket) the pin holding the tensioner rail in place is a floating pin, should come out easily. You have to push a small drill bit or some other small pin into the hole and sort of cock it side ways and the pins should just slide out easily. Hold on to the tensioner rail as you do this and then withdraw the rail The plastic slides off the aluminum piece. Have fun lining the rail back up so you can re insert the pin. I takes a bit of patience. I just tied the sprocket up out of the way while I was doing all the rails. When I got done I then re attached the sprocket to the end of the passenger side cam. Then you can roll the chain in. I did mine with plastic tie straps, takes quite a few and a buddy to help you turn the engine over and also help attach and cut tie straps as you roll the engine over very slowly. I used double tie straps on both cam sprockets on both sides as I rolled the chain in. I wasn't taking any chances of the chain skipping a tooth as I did this. This tip came from Dan Caron from sl1o7.com site. Make sure you mark you distributor before removing it. Bring the cylinder up to top dead center on Number 1 cylinder on compression stroke (both cam lobes off the top of the valve stems. As you know cylinder fires when both valves are closed and also make sure the zero mark on the harmonic balancer and the pointer down by the bottom of the water pump to be lined up. Also you will see a mark on each cam end and the cam tower lines up. Also when you remove the distributor cap and plastic piece covering the base of the distributor you should see a line on the distributor body where the rotor button lines up with number 1 firing position when the cap is in place. There are many instructions on this procedure in many forums but until you get at it it may sound a bit confusing. When you are doing this it will become clear as you go along. Just keep the instructions close by for referral and if in doubt stop and re read instructions. Good luck.

[Hatebreed]

Thanks for all the info!! I am still considering purchasing the pin puller but my Megiver/anal cheapness say I can build one. Sometimes I spend days trying to reinvent tools mastered hundreds of years ago. Its a sick pleasure that will probably take years of my life. Thanks again for the help!!

[GSMITH]

The tool site is ZDMAK. The sites user interface kind of sucks so use the search tool. Search for Chain Guide from the mercedes tool page for the pin puller and chain hold down.

I you have never changed the belts you might want to look at that special tool also. Search for MK-1832C.