Well, I have been reading the horror stories of timing chains jumping and chain rail breaking, and am cautiously going to attempt the r&r if stretch is exessive.

facts: New to me 95S420 w/334k-km. (about 210k-miles). There is no indication in the PO's records of having this addressed anywhere in the vehicles history, so I am a little frightened to travel with this vehicle. So the first step is to check chain stretch, then inspect the guides.

Regarding the chain stretch, how do I check this exactly. I realize the engine must be set for TDC at the cam (drivers side I presume), but what marks do I set to align up? Should the engine crank be turned clockwise or counter clockwise viewed from the front?

With regards to a borescope, how or who has these criters (to check the guides top and bottom)?

Regards

Ron

PS. A picture showing the alignment marks on the cam sprocket & cam tower would be nice.

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1995 E320 -171k-km
1995 S420 -333k-km

We decided to crack the passenger side valve cover and try to check the timing chain stretch. The best we could do was to set the cam on the 45 degree offset mark and read off of the harmonic balancer. Got 33 degrees, I calculate 12 degrees of stretch. Small bomb waiting to happen. Is this correct? will the angle read off the balancer go smaller or larger? Where are those marks for cam alignment at zero degrees.

Anybody help?

__________________
1995 E320 -171k-km
1995 S420 -333k-km