Man, I really feel that someone was looking out for me--and one of my cars today..Since I had the day off, I decided to pull the valve covers on my 380SE and check everything out since it's at 110,000 miles and I haven't done a chain yet...Anyhow, I pull the left side cover off and what do I see but my upper-inner rail broken into bits! To make a long story ahort, I decided to replace all four rails and roll in a new chain. I'm still thankful that it didn't get to the point of no return (i.e. bending valves, etc..). So late this afternoon after a hard day's work in a not-so-warm garage, I finished everything up, and as a treat to the car for not doing me totally wrong, I have switched over to Mobil 1 10W-30 synthetic oil. Everything's back to normal, and she's running wonderful once again! WHEW!

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Rgds,
Aaron Greenberg
MB technician
Precision Motorcars, Cincinnati, Ohio
'67 250SE Cabriolet
'77 450SL
'80 300SD
'85 380SE
'89 420SEL
'93 300E 2.8
'72 Alfa Romeo 2000GTV
'74 Jensen Interceptor Mk.III
'81 DeLorean DMC12

Nice anecdote ! Thanks for sharing it.
preventive maintainance pays off.

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1979 300D
133K miles
1989 300SE
1995 C280

Aaron,

With so many cars, I don't know haow you find the time to go looking for trouble! Hats off to you!

A few days ago there was a thread from JOEL about changing ATF filerter asnd discussion about rotating the engine. Direction of rotation was discussed, and I jumped in with some warnings and reasons on why direction was critical. Joel started getting a little nervous, but I think you and Larry Bible calmed him down. From your postings, I can tell that the two of you have a tremendous amount of knowledge, skill, and MB experience. Thank you for sharing it with us, it does not go unnoticed and is greatly appreciated!

In the postings to joel, there was no discussion of the accuracy of my advice to joel. Much of my advice comes from knowledge on other cars, and belt driven overhead cam engines are definitely prone to being screwed by rotating the wrong direction. This puts the tension adjusting side of the cam drive, which is normally "unlaoded" except for tensioner pressure, in direct tension, which compresses the can belt tensioner and allows slop to build in the other side of the belt which is normally a staight shot in pur tension. Finally the belt jumps a tooth! All from turning the engine the wrong way! Darn that was a long description, hope it makes sense!

Is this a problem or a concern on any of the MB cars? I would like to know for my own knowledge and so I won't pass on bad advice! Also, on gas engines pulling the sparks is quick and easy and makes rotation so much easier, any advice diesels?

Thanks!

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Deezel
87 300TDT
150,000 miles

Thank you for the kind reply. You are in fact totally correct about rotation of belt driven engines. It will wreak havoc should it be rotated the wrong way. Keep up the good work, I'm glad to see normal MB owners who are knowledgeable about their cars! :)


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Rgds,
Aaron Greenberg
MB technician
Precision Motorcars, Cincinnati, Ohio
'67 250SE Cabriolet
'77 450SL
'80 300SD
'85 380SE
'89 420SEL
'93 300E 2.8
'72 Alfa Romeo 2000GTV
'74 Jensen Interceptor Mk.III
'81 DeLorean DMC12