Ok, i keep hearing about valves, adjusting them and changing them and what not. What are they, and when do i need to change/adjust them? Is it that important? Sorry, im new to mercedes and cars in general. THanks

Ali
81 300SD

Do a search for valve adjustment. You will get plent of info that will answer your question plus some.

__________________
Adam Lumsden
(83) 300D
Vice-President of the MBCA International Stars Section

Welcome to MercedesShop.

Valves control when air is allowed into the combustion chamber, and when exhaust is allowed out. When they open and close must be precisely controlled to make power and not waste fuel.

Check the following link:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/engine7.htm

The adjustments you will be making are the clearance between the valve stem and the actuator. If there is too little clearance, or no clearance, or in extreme cases 'negative' clearance the valve not will be able to close completely to seal the chamber.

If this occurs, bad things happen such as loss of power and the possibility of overheating damage done to the valve ("burning") such that it (they) must be replaced.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,
Jim

Ali,
You've come to the best place for you Mercedes. As previously mentioned there's a lot here about vavle adjustment. If you need you know now, check out www.pindelski.com. It's a pay site but worth every penny.
disclaimer, no interest etc etc.

Since nobody directly answered your question about the intervals you should use to adjust your valves, every 15,000 miles you should adjust your valves.
-Joe

__________________
'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.