Lacking the proper tool and time, to adjust my valves. Took my ride to ahe local forien car mechanic. Had no sooned drove away from his shop and received a call that they had taken the valve cover off and discovered several of the lobes on my cam were worn out of shape and the rockers on those lobes were toast. I pulled the cam and rockers off of the 240 engine I pulled out of the car. I replace the motor with a '77 240D motor that came out of the 240 I used to drive.

I got the car back and all seemed fine, until the day after I drove it home. The car wont idle, well it idles but not at 700 rpm's sounds more like 250 rpm's. Kinda like comparing a steady hum compared to a ca-chunk, ca chunk...

My car was running fine before I took it to the shop and now, well I'm bummed.

I was inspecting the IP while trying to determine if something was obviously different, that might be causing the slow idle and played with the 'Stop Lever' and had been adjusted so tight that the 'Stop Lever" was useless. I backed the screw out 5.5 rotations until the 'Stop Lever' would kill the motor, this changed nothing with the slow idle.

I just went and drove the car approx. 20 miles to get the motor hot to see if it changed the Ca-Chunk to a more desired idle. It made a difference, while warm engine idling was a bit higher maybe 400rpm's but still not where it should be.

On the drive I noticed that the car seem's to be missing almost like break dragging, they are not. (something is not right)

Looking for a free diagnosis from the Diesel Doctors. I just hope yall have experienced something like this before and tell me to adjust my rearview mirror and all of this will be behind me. But I'm kinda thinking yall may be asking me a whole bunch of questions.
Thanks in Advance.

__________________
Collector of Fine Hose Clamps
'77 240D 'AVA' is in heaven now
'80 240D Kanarienvogel
'82 300TD 343k was my daily driver 'ADOLPH' In Surgery for a severe Deer Bite to the Nose
'88 560SL 102k 'White One'

OK so you've got a mish mash of engine parts in a non original engine fitted to the car...

...so what have you got?

A 1977 240D engine in a 1980 chassis with a camshaft and rocker arms from a 1980 240D?

It probably doesn't matter too too much but it would be good to have the camshaft codes - around 1980 the camshafts were up rated - well there are several types listed in the FSM.

Did the "shop" give you back the old parts that they removed?

It seems unlikely to me that the engine will idle at 250 rpm - I think you need to find a way of measuring the true rpm if you are going to tackle this problem yourself.

I assume you are not going to take the vehicle back and complain?

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

I have A 1977 240D engine in a 1980 chassis with a camshaft and rocker arms from a 1980 240D. Evereything I can find tells me they are interchanable. Please let me know if you know something I do not.

The RPM I quoted was to give everyone the idea that the RPM seems to sound about half of what it should sound like. I had know way of telling the true rpm as I have no tach.

I did not retrieve the parts but plan on doing so Monday when I go back to question and possibly complain. I assumed (my bad) the Mechanic would tell me the cam and rockers I gave him were not compatable with the motor he would be installing them into. Since I told him I had 1980 240d engine in my barn and that I would scavage another cam and rocker's. He said get them, with no hesitation. Again I assumed and trusted him to tell me if there was be a problem. Maybe I was naive and got bit in the butt.

__________________
Collector of Fine Hose Clamps
'77 240D 'AVA' is in heaven now
'80 240D Kanarienvogel
'82 300TD 343k was my daily driver 'ADOLPH' In Surgery for a severe Deer Bite to the Nose
'88 560SL 102k 'White One'

Hi Treeman,
In my experiance, the rockers are interchagable. The later rockers have little wear pads made of indestructium, or possibly unobtainium brazed to their faces. Whatever it is, I imagine it is very hard. I've been running these rockers that I pilfered off of a later 617 for many years with no problems.

Regarding how your car is running, it sounds like the valves were set incorrectly. They are probably WAYYYYYY too tight.

I generally do not take anything back to a shop that screwed it up. Remember, your car will get to enjoy the contempt of a frusterated and inept mechanic that is doing this job again for free without you there to protect it. Just my two cents!

I hope this helps!
Chris

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1983 Turbocharged 240D
1982 Mazda RX-7
1974 Mazda Rotary Pickup Converted to an EV

The 77 240D engine would have had a different linkage setup then the 80 240D....how is the linkage setup?

You may also want to consider timing the injection pump...

Have you lined up the timing marks and confirm that the chain isn't buggered? Having valves so tight to ruin the shape of the cams, would most likely effect other things...

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The updated chilled cam is compatible with the earlier engine. The newer rockers have carbide facings, and they should be compatible with the older or newer cam. If used rockers were installed, they should have been installed in the same positions as they were originally located. If you upgraded the rockers, you should have also upgraded the cap nuts on the valve stems. The newer adjusting nuts have a larger contact surface, and they are hard chrome plated. That would be something to check, as the manual warns not to use the older style adjusting nuts with the newer rockers.

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'79 240D

Used rockers were installed, if they are in the same position, I would not know as I was not there
But from everything you guy's have told me to check, looks like the valve cover is coming back off to

• Check valve clearance
• Timing chain
• install new 'Cap Nuts'
• Chrome plated adjusting Nut

I have included a link to the numbered schematic for the 80 and the 77, please ID the items I need, if you will, they look the same, found on VALVES. Fits: 1980 Mercedes 240 D Sedan | Mercedes-Benz of South Atlanta VALVES. Fits: 1977 Mercedes 240 D Sedan | Mercedes-Benz of South Atlanta
I am also not going to let the Mechanic slide, I will stop and get the parts he replaced let him know that I'm not a happy guy and where I am taking the car to get the valves adjusted and all the future work he could have had.
I really am trying to be a weekend mechanic, but Im kinda slow and thing backwards most of the time. But I can tell you about trees Thanks for the help and if yall think of anything else, please do not hesitate to share it.

__________________
Collector of Fine Hose Clamps
'77 240D 'AVA' is in heaven now
'80 240D Kanarienvogel
'82 300TD 343k was my daily driver 'ADOLPH' In Surgery for a severe Deer Bite to the Nose
'88 560SL 102k 'White One'

To clarify, the cap nut is the same thing as the adjusting nut. There should be a set of eight available on the donor engine that the rocker assemblies came from. You will need to remove the rockers again in order to replace the adjusting nuts.

Did the mechanic who installed the rockers and cam have the donor engine available to him, or did you just bring the parts in? Can't blame the mechanic if you failed to mark the rocker assemblies for location.

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'79 240D

I took him the parts in a box, and had them laid out as I had taken them off but i did not mark them, unfortunate as it is now, the mechanic picked them up to examine them, I assumed my precaution to keep separated was not justified and thought no more about it until now. Totally my fault for not tagging the parts. Should I go ahead and take the adjustment caps off keeping them in marked sequence and take them to the or a mechanic or purchase new ones?

__________________
Collector of Fine Hose Clamps
'77 240D 'AVA' is in heaven now
'80 240D Kanarienvogel
'82 300TD 343k was my daily driver 'ADOLPH' In Surgery for a severe Deer Bite to the Nose
'88 560SL 102k 'White One'

Since you don't know what sequence your rockers are in relative to their original positions, I don't see how maintaining the sequence of the adjusting nuts is going to matter. If I were able to discern any visible wear on the adjusting nut top surfaces, then I'd probably go with new ones. In general, it's a good idea to put nuts back on exactly where they came from. This is not possible in this case, since they are going on a different set of valve stems. I don't know whether or not it really matters anyway.

My understanding is that you want to keep the rockers matched with the cam lobes due to the probability that each pairing has a unique wear pattern. Getting them mixed up may make them wear out faster, but I doubt that catastrophic results would be instantaneous.

__________________
'79 240D

When you get the camshaft back from the mechanic look at the end of the shaft and find the camshaft number - it will be at the far end - opposite from the camshaft cog.

Then go and find the camshaft number fitted to the vehicle. You'll need a mirror.

If you look in chapter 05-215 in the (W123) FSM I have a sneaky suspicion that you'll see that the valves will be opening and closing at different times for each of your camshafts.

If this hunch of mine is right it goes quite some way to explaining why you are having the problems you have.

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Does it have new fuel filters?

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Late cam lifters have Stellite inserts, tough stuff, the cam will probably wear to mate. How did it run beforehand?

__________________
CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

Mechanic probably put it back together, noticed an idle problem and tried adjusting the stop lever. Silly rabbit should know that the idle adjuster knob is better suited to this.

I'd pull the cover and see: what is going on? If the cam or rocker towers are not tight enough, they will loosen and possibly a follower can flap around (not a good thing) and gouge the cam. This happened to me, and thanking all that is merciful, I only had to replace the woodruff key, a rocker and whatever else bent from a spare engine. I'm really surprised I didn't have a piston-valve collision and a much worse problem. DO NOTE that the bolts holding the cam tower in also clamp the head down, and have a torque, wait-angle spec. If the mechanic was playing w/ the shut down lever, he may not know it from memory.

As a guess, you may be hearing a noise that is once per cam cycle, and at 1/2 the crankshaft RPM. Another guess, you may have one valve adjusted very loose (large clearance) and the lifter is floating in that clearance. Since this could go south on you, I'd pull the valve cover and look in there real quickly. You can wind the motor clockwise looking from front of car to back from the power steering pulley to put each piston at TDC to check the clearances. You don't need to buy feeler gages if it's a problem. Tear up a soda can: 1 wall thickness = .005" (approx. intake valve clearance) and 2 wall thicknesses = .010" (approx. exhaust valve clearance). Aluminum is too soft to cause you a problem w/ any wear surfaces.

Also, look into root cause of why is the cam trashed? Was it way too tight? Is oil distribution to the CAM OK?

__________________
CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?