m103 Removing Valve cover help needed!!!
 

Hey everyone. I have taken out the 8 bolts that hold the valve cover in place on my m103 1992 300e but I can't seem to pry it loose. Judging by a dribble of black rubbery stuff coming down from one corner of the cover, somebody had used a lot of gasket compound last time the cover was off. Are there any tricks to getting it loose? Or, more importantly, did I miss some screws or does the distributor need to come off? I am deathly afraid of warping the valve cover so I haven't tried prying it off though I did give it a few taps with a rubber mallet. I have also tried sticking my fingers in through the oil filler cap and pulling up for all im worth, but I think im just not worth enough. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Btw, I am pulling it off because the paint is flaking off in many places and I want to sand it down and give it a few new coats.

You're on the right track. :) No need to remove the distributor. Just make sure all of the bolts are out.

New gaskets are so cheeeeep, I can't imagine using gasket sealer on it. :(

Good luck,

Well I have given up! The cover is absolutely refusing to budge. Anyone have any alternate ideas besides pulling, pushing, and cursing? Maybe using a razor blade to cut the gasket out? I don't know if that would work, but im afraid of seriously scratching the block...

Well, there's another one on ebay, and a steel hammer might move it a bit more than the rubber one! :eek:

Maybe a little heat? Or maybe just paint it in place. :(

Oh Man, have I been HERE before!
BIG hits with the rubber mallet, you won't damage it (believe me, if a rubber mallet will harm it, I would have harmed one by now). BEAT on that sucker and that may work.
Alternatively I have used a chisel, medium size one, right where the bottom of the gasket meets the head. Put it in at a very shallow (flat) angle. Tap it in there little by little, you'll eventually pry it off that way. I usually do this at the right front corner.
I assume you have the plug wires removed already and the conduit removed from the valve cover.
Gilly

Wow, makes me thankful that my W126 valve covers came off with finger pressure. They almost fell off. Of couse, the gaskets were cracked to high heaven.

Repainting Valve Cover
 

Badinfo

Very interested to hear how your rennovation of the valve cover goes as I have a similar problem with flaking paint I would like to fix.

I was under the impression it would need to be powder coated? Perhaps high temperature paint might work and the job could be done at home on a weekend?

Please keep us informed.

Thanks

I have re-finished the valve cover in my 190E 2.3 Sportline with engine enamel spray paint and it is surviving well so far. The time consuming part was removing all the old coating. Despite the fact that much of it was flaking, much of what remained was thick and stubborn, even with the use of a bead blaster. Once I had it all stripped, it was a simple matter of degreasing it and spraying it with engine enamel. Since I was not so concerned with originality, I decided it, along with the air filter lid, looked better in this colour scheme http://www.benzworld.org/gallery/pics/W201_49666.jpg

Also time consuming was fabricating a new oil separator for the underside of the valve cover from sheet steel. The original plastic one was cracked and falling apart. Unfortunately, the late versions in plastic are not available as a separate part and the early metal version will not fit. My valve cover had also warped and was leaking which necessitated the use of black silicone sealant as a gap filler in the groove for the gasket (not both sides of the gasket so as to avoid the above-mentioned difficulty of removal). Whilst the whole exercise was time consuming, the cost of a new valve cover ruled that out as an option. To date the results have been very satisfactory. Whilst the valve cover was removed, I also fitted new hydraulic lifters to silence the intermittent ticking during warm-up.

Having tested my valve cover re-finishing technique on my 190E, I am now considering doing the same on my 300TE, although I do want it to look very original since it is a concours class-winning car. Its valve cover is still pretty good but does have a few blisters and cracks starting to appear. It currently looks like this http://www.benzworld.org/gallery/pics/W124_56190.jpg

I recognize the fear as I went through that the first time I removed mine. I used what Gilley said plus added a wooden wedge. With the wedge placed low where the cover meets the head, I rapped the wedge with the rubber mallet. Worked great.

A little thread hijacking, if no one minds
 

Greg,

How do you keep the exhaust manifolds so nice & white? I read they are originally porcelain coated?? Mine are thoroughly browned after 215,000 miles.

Maybe a little white high temp spray paint? POR 15 or another brush-on paint?? I suppose removing them, blasting & "jet hot" coating would be the best way, but I'm not ready to put that much into just a color change.

Easy Way to Remove Paint
 

I refinished the valve covers on both my M103's; one the hard way by sanding it, and the second using paint stripper.

Paint stripper works fantastic. Use a paint brush and goop it on thick, cover the whole thing with a plastic bag for about 1/2 hour and wipe the paint off. Use a wire brush to get in the crevices. Another advantage of paint stripper is that you dont have all the sanding dust infiltrating to the inside of the cover where it can cause problems.

I used regular old Rustoleum gloss enamel (enamel is more flexible than lacquer) and it has held up for three years now. One thing to note is that the original paint is put on very thick, presumably to cover the flaws and roughness of the cover. It may not be possible to get the same thick cover of paint but the new shiny finish is well work it.

Valve Cover
 

Great advice.

I checked on a new gasket which is AU $43. A bit more than I expected but you get that.

Has anyone considered or would it be just to crass to polish the valve cover (I presume it is aluminium?).

If the cover has been cast the surface is likely too pitted for the job to be easy.

89 300CE

(Thread Hijack)
 

(The original post has been answered, so here goes...)

Greg,

Can you elaborate on the oil separator you fabricated. I recently found that mine is destroyed on my '92 201/2.3. As you mentioned, what's rediculous is that the older ones are metal, will last a lifetime, and are available as a separate part. The "improved" design is plastic (read: brittle and literally falling apart after 10 years) and are NOT available separately from the valve cover. Go figure!

Do you have any images of the part you made?

Thanks in advance.

Jeff Pierce

I don't do anything with them! It may have something to do with the fact that the 300TE has only travelled about 184,000km (115,000 mi) in its 14 years, although I have seen others that have done even less work that are not as white. I can even remember noticing that I had left greasy hand prints on them after replacing the head gasket. Even this burned off back to the original white finish the first time I ran the engine. The manifold on the 190E is not as white but then it has travelled 226,000km in its 14 years.

It seems crazy that the metal oil separators which will last forever are available as a spare part but the plastic ones are not. I even had my dealer order a metal one in for me hoping it would fit but it would not. They suggested I try modifying it but I could not see the sense in this effort on top of the cost of purchasing it. Instead I put the effort (about a whole Saturday afternoon) into fabricating my own. Unfortunately I did not photograph it (I should have, it was a work of art!). Basically it is as close a copy of the plastic one I could make from sheet steel. Most of it is from one sheet cut and beaten into the required shape with drain holes drilled where required. The outlet "pipe" was fabricated from a second piece of sheet steel and was silver-soldered (brazed) into place on the main piece. The only tools used were tin-snips, ball-pein hammer, files, drill, bench vyce and oxy torch. I was careful to check that nothing interfered with the rockers. It seems to be working fine.