Adjusting valve clearance ( a confession)
Good day to all.
I'll take the risk to be the subject of some jokes, but remenber I'm only an imported Belgian.
This morning I planned to adjust the valve clearances of my 280GE. I prepared my tools, my special bought, special valve Mercedes Benz adjusting tool and my feeler gauges.
Took the cover off, took off the tension springs and started adjusting everything possible on these valves. As I expected they were far too tight. Adjusted the exhaust valves (Cold engine) to 0.25 and the inlet valves to 0,10.
Put on new tension springs and put everything together again. After starting the engine it made a sound as if there was a bag of pebbles in it.
After my hart started beating again I repeated the steps mentioned above. Checked everything double etc.
Long story short. At four oclock I gave up.
About six I got a very nasty feeling and started adjusting again with a very minor difference. Started the engine and it runned like new.
The deeper thought behind this story is:
NEVER ASSUME THE FEELER GAUGES YOU ARE USING ARE METRIC.
SOME ARE IN INCHES ( even though unmarked) :oops:
Easily done I had the same thing with an old torque wrench that was in the shed luckily it had a conversion table in the box for Nm :wink:
I hope you dont have high blood pressure.
I feel for you.... there is nothing worse that thinking that your G might have been much better off had you not attempted to fix it!
Anyway, Everything is well if it ends well.
thats why i wouldnt even bother :shock:
i would be too upset for weeks..... :!
at least there was a happy ending to this story :)
I always think positively.......I'll know how to do it properly and more cheaply next time! Its always worth offering to help your "mate" to do the job on his kit first :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
Wout
which Alloys/Tyre size are they? They fit nicely in the archers
Grendle
Well .. I started to do mine (diesel and no fancy spanners) .. put the nuts for the cam cover in a magnetic tray over radiator with the spanners.. when I picked up a spanner it trailed a nut over until it dropped into the chain area of the head with a tinkle :oops: :shock:
Tried to start car and no rotation.. hum... rocked and levered down.. could just about see/feel nut on crank sprocket but no go.. eventually bought a wee a camera from Maplin and added an LED for a light, tied it to a coat hanger and did a wee job with the TV+camera+lights .. made a tool from bit of HT fence wire .. levered nut off sprocket... retrieved nut with magnet.. the next job I used the magnet for (nut behind injector pump) the end fell of the magnet probe :shock: .
All is well that ends well. 8)
Very lucky to be able to recover the nut from inside the engine. Worst situation would be to have to remove the engine and dismantle.
Normally nut would have fallen into sump and never have been seen again; I think I rocked the car to start with and found the blockage; I did inspect the chain afterwards and it seems relatively OK (hard material compared to a 8.6 grade nut) .. had considered taking sump off and swore at MB for having no removable timing cover. I did take the sump off later (to relocate the turbo drain line) and it is not as bad as it looks.. drop the steering drag link and put car a max droop (ie lift on chassis) and it comes out with a bit of a 90 degree twist and play (more bad words at not have removable dipstick tube...)
Without wishing to provoke any adverse comment, I have to admit I am in awe of your herroic horror stories: I fear I am too delicate and ignorant to be able to emulate these feats.
Perhaps I will improve with age.
:twisted:
JOIN THE GWOA
This website and forum are provided for the benefit of enthusiasts and owners of all Mercedes Benz off road vehicles, in particular the G Wagen. The costs of development, upkeep and provision of the site are met entirely by the annual subscriptions of club members. If you are using the site and are not a member of the G Wagen Owners Association please consider joining. You will have access to areas on the site that are not open to non members, to club trips and meetings and to technical assistance. In addition your contribution (only £25 annually) will help us maintain and develop our website for future users.
Who's new
- Jaffa_JIM_23
- Wrabstar
- GG
- KTMSCANIA22
- 280ge
