I had a chance to pop the valve covers off my 89 420 SEL last night and found a broken upper guide on the driver (left) side. Luckily, I was able to fish the piece out and it looks to be the lower end of the guide which had snapped off right at one of the dowel pins. The piece was just riding between the chain, I guess it was in a position to where it wouldn't get caught up in one of the gears. My records show the chain, tensioner and guides had previously been replaced at 70K (now I'm at 130K) so it looks like this is a common maintenance item.

I was wondering if it is possible to just replace all the upper guides and the tensioner or does the chain need replacement as well? I also have a leaking head gasket to deal with and am thinking I might as well pull the engine and get it all taken care of.

(The wife is gonna freak if she's sees the engine out of her car)

Thanks,

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Chas

Had a 380SL, 450SL, 380SEL, 420SEL, 500SEL

Got a Euro 500SEC right now.