Top end clatter ?? Chain tensioner ?

[Ben]

I'm not driving my car at the moment as I have the driveshaft out, waiting for a new output shaft nut and washer !

Anyway before I stopped driving it I had noticed a noise which was a little louder than a bad tappet. I also suspected a loose valve stem oil seal as everything was replaced there 6 months ago but I was getting a puff on start up.

So I removed the valve cover and found two loose plastic seals. One I could clip back down but the other I couldn't. It may be damaged due to being bounced around a bit. Anyway I'll get a new one and change it.

My concern came when I happened to poke the timing chain and to ,my surprise there was a bit more play in it than I expected. Given that the chain, sprockets, guides and tensioner are only 6 months old I wondered why this was ?

So my question is how much, if any, play should there be ?  Also is there a way to bleed the tensioner, if so how ?

Answers on a postcard please !!  

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.
'03 CLK Kompressor

[Naj ✝︎]

Hi, Ben,
When the engine is not run for a while, the pressure from the chain tensioner will dissipate and the chain seem loose. When you run the engine again, the pressure will 'pump' up again. There is a little 'oil well' under the tensioner. It should be full of oil.
When an engine is rebuilt, the chain is tensioned by 'working' the tensioner idler.

Agree Joe??

naj
'Kloines Scheisserle'
65 230SL
68 280SL

[Ben]

Hi Naj,
    Thanks for the reply !

Thats pretty much how I understood it. When you say "work" the tensioner, what I did was move it back and forth with a screwdriver until it firmed up !

I assume thats it right ?  There is oil in the little well and the noise only appears at about 2,500 when accelerating. If I rev it whilst stationary I cant hear anything !

So maybe the play I have is normal !

Would the loose plastic oil seal make any noise I wonder ?

Either way I plan to remove the valve spring tonight and check it out !

Maybe the noise is from something else.....something tipping the body when under load  !



Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.
'03 CLK Kompressor

[Ben]

Okay relax everyone......I got it sorted !

And dont I feel like a wally !

Turns out that the chain and tensioner are working fine. I retraced my steps and when I was trying to flick down the valve stem oil seal on the valve nearest the bulkhead I rocked the car in gear in order to get the valve closed. It was sometime after this that I noticed the slack in the chain. Last night I checked and all is fine !

Also the noise turned out to be the steel pipe running behind the cylinder head for thew cols start valve. Last night I was watching TV and remembered somebody mentioning this before.........could it be that simple..........hadn't I checkled already ?  Well I visually checked but when I actually tried to rattle it.........it rattled.

So I moved it and all is well. Try the simple things first ehh !
The thing that threw me was that the consistency of the rattle, exactly at camshaft speed, led me to believ it was valve train related and once I thought that my mind took over......which is always a bad thing !  

All is well that ends well !

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.
'03 CLK Kompressor

[Naj ✝︎]

Ben,
The cold start air pipe should be secured to the inlet manifold by a 'p' clip and an 'L' shaped bracket.
One day I WILL learn how to upload pictures. Joe, do you give lessons on that?
naj

naj
'Kloines Scheisserle'
65 230SL
68 280SL

[Ben]

Mmm I think I might have seen something like that lurking in my toolbox since I did the rebuild !!

If someone had a picture that'd be great !

Maybe some lessons on the phots could be put up here somewhere as i've tried in the past and failed also !

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.
'03 CLK Kompressor

[rwmastel]

Photo Uploads:

1. Write your message.
2. Click on the paper clip icon (below your message body as you write).
3. Browse to the file on your C: drive.
4. The file must be smaller than 80kb.
5. Click "Upload" to place the photo in your message body.
6. Once uploaded, it places a lot of text (not the actual photo!) in your message body.  This text is a command to display the photo.
7. You can cut/paste this text to any place in your message.
8. You can repeat steps 3 - 5 for more photos.

Rodd
Powell, Ohio, USA
1966 230SL, Euro, Auto, Leather, both  tops
1994 E420

[Naj ✝︎]

Well Rod,
How do I get my pix down to <80kb??
Sorry to be a pest
naj

'Kloines Scheisserle'
65 230SL
68 280SL

[rwmastel]

You need to use software that can edit .jpg files.  If you got software with your digital camera, it can probably do it.  There is probably free software you can download to do this, but I can't recommend any from experience.

Rodd
Powell, Ohio, USA
1966 230SL, Euro, Auto, Leather, both  tops
1994 E420

[Cees Klumper]

Most photo edit software (from Microsoft or MGI Photosuite for example) have a feature to change the format/size of your photos, look around in the menus. On my digital camera, there is a way to get the resolution low (while maintaining good quality) enough for posting to the site. Just some thoughts.

Naj - yes the tube came in the mail this week ,with the marvellous poster from the SL days in Speyer. I will frame it and put in a nice spot in the garage - THANKS!

Cees Klumper in Amsterdam
'69 white 280 SL automatic

[W14]

Naj, here's a post on that:

http://sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=483


Will W14
1965 230SL 4spd
Victoria,BC