Timechain, lifter
 

Hi guys, I have been piggybagging on these forums for some
time now, lot of good stuff, I have spent a few days just
browsing and reading some good threads.

It was about time to register and see if any could help me
out since I'm full of questions about my car's condition,
here we go.

I guess take it from the top, I bought a 1982 380SEL for
$1000 about 1 1/2 year ago, I new a lot had to be done
to the car in order to run smoothly. Since I have worked
on a lot of Toyota's etc when I was younger I didn't think
it would be a problem and estimated about $2000 - $2500
to get it right. Of course it's more like $3000 - $3500 and
still going. But it's almost there and its a nice ride.

Two months ago I had this chain rattling
sound, it took it to the mechanic because I knew that I
couldn't change the chain myself. He changed the
chain and it was running smoother but still not smooth
enough ( seems like it's sometimes missing on one cylender )
When I brought that up with the mechanic before leaving
he said something like well it runs good bla bla. I drove it
for a while and noticed pretty quickly that the car has no
power compared to before ( going up hills the car doesn't
do a nice downshift to eat the hill ) I need to floor it to
make something happen. ( maybe a timing problem ).
Also The car is starting to eat more oil, way too much,
in my opinion, I think about a quart evey 500 miles.

I have read about the leak test etc on another thread and
was thinking maybe I should find somebody to do that for
me.

Anyway yesterday I started hearing a big clonk, clonk sound
when starting the car cold. Not the same ratlling sound as
when I took it to the mechanic. Of course this is when the
car is cold, I took it to the mechanic but the car was hot
so he couldn't hear it. But he belives that it's a lifter
( probably one of them he told me ) "bring it tomorrow, we
will find the one that's faulty and get a new one".

Another note is that when driving and coming to a stop I
will hear tick, tick ( clonk ) sound, but then I'm not standing
next to the engine and can't determine if it's the same sound
as when I startup the car.

So I guess the big question is, could it be that the mechanic
didn't do a perfect job changing the chain and something
came loose. Or is it a lifter or ? Obviously if it's from the
first job I don't think I should be paying too much this time.
Unless it's something else of course.

Also if he opens it up tomorrow, what else should I
have him change ( valve seals ) something else to minimize
the oil consumption ?

I know this was a long... to long post, but I wanted to give
background info just in case, any input would be great.

Thanx,
Orn

WHEN REPLACING A CHAIN, THE RAILS SHOULD BE INSPECTED IF NOT CHANGED AT THE SAME TIME. IT IS ALSO A GOOD IDEA TO REPLACE THE TENSIONER & THE CAM GEARS. THE CAM GEAR WEAR & CHANGE THE CAM TIMING.IF THE CAMS WERE NOT TIMED CORRECTLY THIS COULD EFFECT PERFORMANCE ( 1 TOOTH OFF ).

Yea sorry, not only was the chain was replaced but also,
replaced with a double chain, the tensioner, the
rails, one of the rail was broken already and the
tensioner was no good.

I didn't hear the mechanic mention the Cam gears though.

btw the car has somthing like 180K miles.

Thanx,
Orn

Definitely sounds like a tooth off to me. Take it back. I sometimes wonder why these mechanics can't get it right the first time. This happened on my miata and he had to tear the whole thing down and do the job over again of course, at his expense.

P.S. WRM, I can hear you from WAY OVER HERE.....

Thanx, I will have to start speaking some "Columbian" to make
them understand, god I need some good english speaking
MB mechanic.

Thanx again, more tomorrow or the next day.

Also, should I have them change the valve seals since they
have to open it up anyway ?

Thanx again,
Orn

Here is a little update on the situation, pretty wierd I think,
this morning I started the car and no clonk, clonk noise, then I
remembered that yesterday I had one wheel ( back left )
up on the curb. I backed it up on the curb and of course
the clonk, clonk sound started, this was when the car was
cold. So I take it to the mechanic but not able to reproduce
the problem.

I talked to him about the timeing, and of course he said
that there is no way that the chain can be one tooth off.
In his words "Then the car wouldn't start", he tried to
give me the run around, tune the engine bla bla a little
back and forth, then I got him to agree on checking that
the timeing is ok, or and set it right if it's off.

We will see tomorrow, obviously it's time to find a new
mechanic, somebody that knows his stuff.

Later,
Orn

Update
 

I was able to pinpoint the clonck noise, one morning,
it was coming from the front of the car, I installed a new
water pump and the noise is gone ( I had a little leak from
the weep hole )

I found a new MB mechanic that actually seems to know
his stuff he's going to set the timing for me and check if
the chain is off.

Thnx,
Orn