300D Timing Chain Expert Advice Needed In Crisis

[nickjzee]

1984 300D Turbo, Timing chain Replacement. 178xxx miles.
First and foremost, thank you for taking the time to view my post. I know there are plenty of threads concerning timing and timing chains but I believe mine is different. Below is a detailed list of the operations performed in my timing chain replacement procedure, (that went horribly sour!).

1. Cut old chain pins, attached new chain and rolled in, and joined new chain.
2. Rotated crank shaft one revolution and checked cam timing. Not knowing I needed to go one more crack shaft revolution I thought cam timing was off 180°.
3. Took cam sprocket off, moved cam to align cam mark. During this, the chain slack jumped teeth in engine case. Set sprocket and rotated engine by hand only to find valve inference.
4. Connected old chain to new, keeping both tight, rolled old chain back in. During this, we kept tight tension and believe we felt the chain unjam. Aligned cam timing mark to TDC.
5. Once old chain was in, reconnected new chain to old, and rolled out old, keeping tension. Joined new chain ends, TDC and cam aligned.
6. Rotated cam once, and marks were aligned (2mm off), no valve interference.
7. Installed tensioner, thermostat, adjusted valves, installed valve cover and new gasket, connected everything, no start.
8. Removed injection pump, aligned teeth to mark and installed at 25° BTDC on exhaust stroke (WRONG), vented IP, bled injector lines, no start. FSM says 24° ± 1°
9. Installed new hand primer pump.
10. Removed injection pump, aligned teeth to mark and installed at 25° BTDC on compression stroke (CORRECT), no start. (opened oil filler cap to ensure compression stroke.)
10a. Removed glow plugs and cranked to ensure diesel to cylinders, sprayed diesel out of the holes.
11. Added 5 gallon of diesel to the tank, no start.

At point 11, with more that three days of failure I conceded the car to Stinehardt. Which boasts, "John Stine, owner and operator, has been repairing luxury vehicles for over 30 years and is a Master Certified Technician with Mercedes."

At the $500 dollar mark, John called and said it may one of two things; the Timing device may not be sprung anymore, or operating correctly. Or the IP is off time. I said go for it and figure it out.

TODATE: $1000 in investigation, new starter (said it cranked to slow (cranked fine before I replaced the timing chain)), IP removal/timing. The Secretary called said it needs a new Injection Pump. (I'm thinking he meant timing device.) Nevertheless, I asked if John could call and explain, he hasn't and it's been over a week.

Any advice is appreciated grandly!!

Nick