After reading extensively on valve adjustment, I decided to give it a try on my '80 300SD yesterday. Many have claimed a smoother idle, even smoother shifting - since I bought my benz it's idled really rough, smoked a bit excessively on initial startup, and I'm lacking power in the lower speeds, so I figured it couldn't hurt. Recently bought a handmade set of bent wrenches, got the valve cover gasket, printed off my intake/exhaust sheet so I could mark everything off, parked it where I wanted to work on it, and got to work yesterday at about 7:30. Here's my blues song...

(Note: I am not experienced at mechanical work, but I've been able to do basic stuff like replacing fuel filters, return lines, oil cooler, aux fan, blower motor and window repair, that's about it...just wanted to clarify that so you don't rule out something really stupid that I've done)

8:00 Finally figured out the best way to remove the necessary throttle linkage and got the valve cover off.

8:30 No problem using the flat parts near the power steering bolt to turn engine over (clockwise so the fan rotated in the proper direction). I did notice a weird sound coming from somewhere seemingly down below the power steering pump, and I also noticed that the difficulty of rotating the engine was not consistent - some times it would make that noise and be really hard to turn, other times it was almost effortless. Anyway, I set cam lobe at 180 degrees from rocker arm as described in threads (about the 1:00 position). Measured clearance, .33mm, held the top nut, loosened the bottom one, held the bottom one still while adjusting the top to specification, then held top nut in position while tightening the bottom nut back. Or that's what I wanted to do, but I was having lots of trouble getting the wrench to fit on the bottom nut, and then when it did, it seemed like it was too loose.

9:30 Gave up trying to work in tight spaces and removed the hard fuel lines and return lines. Left glow plugs in - that ok? I read somewhere about someone recommending removing them first, but I didn't want to get in deeper than I had to.

10:00 2 or 3 valves later, still nigh impossible adjusting the clearance.

10:30 Took a sanity break (remembering from the threads that I should have already been done by now) and worked on window issue.

11:00 Spent next hour tracking down a grinder and grinding down the bottom bent wrench - helped tremendously. Some of the valves were actually fairly easy and I started feeling pretty good about it.

12:30 After a brief lunch, continued...on about valve 6 of 10. Consistent problem - After I would set the top nut for the proper clearance, hold it still while tightening the bottom nut, almost always when I double checked it it would be too tight even though I didn't move that top nut. So I started having to set it too loose so that when I tightened it would be correct.

1:30 Stuck on valve 9 (going down the line, exhaust I think) due to lack of room. Bent wrenches seemed too long, ended up having better luck with one bent wrench and a small straight wrench. Took seriously 45 minutes to adjust that one damn valve. (Had another sanity window break in there somewhere)

3:00 Finished all the valves, began to double check. Got 3 valves in, all correct, then suddenly couldn't turn the engine anymore cause the belt started slipping. Didn't know how to tighten the belt (again, newbie here), so made the decision to call it quits and hope for the best. Reassembled everything (including new gasket) with no problems, using digital photos I'd taken. The only part of the job that went as planned.

4:00 Cranked it. Realized my fuel lines had been emptied, so primed it (newly replaced new black manual primer) about twenty pushes, finally cranked up. TERRIBLE idle, much shakier than before, more white smoke from tailpipe that didn't go away, and an alarming amount of smoke when I open the oil cap. (Excuse the awful belt squealing on the video, the two drive belts that are beside each other and identical are old and worn and need to be replaced badly. Already have the belts, just need to learn how to replace...but it's not the core issue I don't think cause it was like this before the valve adjustment). Twice after giving it throttle and then releasing, it shut off like in the second video.

5:00 Rehydrated (it was hot down here in Tennessee) and strongly considered whether I wanted to 1) quit trying to be a mechanic and sell the car for scrap, 2) just take it into the shop and let a real mechanic figure it all out, or 3) get back on here and try to figure out what in the hell I messed up. Though I initially chose the latter, I'm not convinced. There are plenty of other things wrong with the car - leaking trunk seal that I've already tried to fix once, a sizable rust spot that's pitted through on the rear quarter panel (200 bucks to get new sheet metal over that section, already have the paint), really bad but not yet leaking windshield seals and aluminum trim both front and rear, and both busted inner boots on the rear CV axle which have started to affect the bearing or something to give this grinding noise on right turns. And another busted air cleaner bracket, probably from all the severe vibrations this engine puts off. So this was one of those days where I had to weigh my love of these good old cars (and future use of biodiesel from a nearby lab) and the frustration with my increasing repertoire of failed mechanical attempts.

6:30 Poured a nice cold Gerst beer to end the day, promptly spilled it all over the living room floor.

7:00 Punched hole in bedroom door (yes, embarrassing, I know, but blues ain't pretty)

7:05 Bandaged bleeding knuckles

7:30 Sat down to pizza and a movie. Turns out Cowboys and Aliens was as bad as I thought it would be. And that's the end of a long day and a 2-3 hour valve adjustment that took 7 hours and made things worse!

Any ideas as to what went wrong and what I should try next? Only thing I can figure is either I pushed on the valves too hard while trying to get the wrench to fit on, or something went wrong during the disassembly/reassembly of the fuel lines. Any help is much appreciated!

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1980 300SD Turbo Diesel
"Bailey's. Mmm...creamy. Soft, creamy beige." - Old Gregg