My SD died last night.... I guess the timing chain Broke. I was on a trip in NC and it started to make this horrible ticking noise. I was going about 20 MPH and I heard somthing give and it died. I guess I ruined the entire engine. I took a screw driver and touched the chain and it was very loose. Did I destroy the valves? What else? Will a new cylinder head and chain and tensioner fix it? It just turned 253,000

Like many deals with machines you have to take it apart to really determine what it will take to fix it....
It is very unlikely that you have ruined the Entire engine... but it may also be less money to find a replacement engine in a salvage yard... you will have to take the head off to determine if you have piston damage due to valves being out of time due to the chain break....

Sorry to hear about your bad news. Hopefully it will turn out that your engine can be salvaged. Do you have any idea how many degrees of chain stretch you had?

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Tjohn

82 300 SD
77 450 SL (gone)

If your chain was still up and around the camshaft so that you could touch it with a screwdriver, did your chain actually break? Probably not. That sucker would be down in the block somewhere but not very likely still up and around the camshaft.

Was the engine locked up after it died or did it just turn over and not start?

Keep us posted and good luck.

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1984 300SD 326,997 miles and counting . . . No wait, my odometer is still dead

Usually it is the tensioner or the slide rail which cause this type of situation.....

Well the dealer said it was at two degrees. Which is not bad. The chain is still on it did not come off. This is giving me hope that the damage is not so bad. the engine also turns but it skips as it turns. I am going to take the engine out of my TD if it will work don't know because of the hydraulic pump.

Thanks
Dieselman

It's your labor or money.
But please consider this. New chain, new gear, New tensioner.
Adjust valves, retime Ip. and a Valve cover gasket. Part's under $300. Labor ?
Engine swap got to be over $500.00 plus labor.
Your choice.

However, piston damage should be checked for... you could pull injectors and precombustion chambers and use a borescope for that without taking the head off....

If there was ANY piston/valve contact, that head will have to come off. So, if you've somehow jumped time and the engine locks up when you pull it through by hand, you might as well plan on pulling that head.

FWIW, Greg, the cheapest flexible borescope I've come across is $279.00....a pricy tool for the home mechanic. Do have a source for anything less expensive?

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Actually I am thinking about my baseball cap flashlight which you said you would give me....
and a tube with a mirror mounted at the bottom... with maybe a cheap telescope lens at top...

However , there is so much at stake in determining the possibility of piston to valve contact... that it might be worth paying a mechanic with a borescope to come over and check it...

That could easily exceed the borescope's cost.

See, I knew I forgot something!

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

After thinking about it I don't think the mirror is necessary...
This is not something where the piston has to be up close enough to " catch" the valve like replacing the valve seals... you can leave it half way down and view it straight on I think...

I wonder if places like " lemon busters" who are in the inspection business have them ?

I wonder if they can be rented online ?

I wonder if any of the forum members already own one they would rent out ?

Here is one on Ebay which does not look too expensive...
At the next get together we could offer both piston viewing....
and a Colonoscope....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=31460&item=3814404971&rd=1

Leave the WE out of that one, Kemo Sabe!

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!