cyl head job - haynes???

[flagstaff]

just doing the cyl head gasket on a '93 E280. everything seems pretty straightforward (!) but the haynes manual makes no mention of remving the timing chain tensioner during the procedure. surely the tensioner will *have* to be removed in order to get sufficient slack on the timing chain to lift it off the cam sprockets??

my instinct is to just remove the bugger and get the job done - but i thought i'd check here first to see if i've missed something major. thanks for any tips guys

 

[tom7035]

If it's any help my Haynes manual for '85 - '93 W124 280 does make reference to removing the tensioner for this job, but of course the manual states it doesn't cover the Aug. '93 on 'E' class. You may know whether the engines are similar?
HTH, Tom.

 

[flagstaff]

thanks Tom - haynes doesn't mention tensioner on my engine, as i said ... so i removed it anyway, as there was no way the cam chain was going to come off the sprockets with all that tension on it. job's not going too badly so far, a lot more straightforward than i thought it might be ... so far, anyway. head is now off, gasket shows signs of oil/water channels being breached in one if not two places. next thing is have the head checked at an engineer's, to see if it requires skimming. do you know if a shop-bought straight edge is up to the task of checking whether the head is warped, or would it need to be specialist equipment? as you can maybe tell, i'm trying to keep costs down

 

[tom7035]

Fair bit of work to spoil for a halfpenny worth of tar as the saying goes, I'd recommend an engineers table to check properly. I Haven't a clue as to cost for an actual skim, it's been such a long time since I had one done, but don't think cost is too prohibitive.
I think we'd all be interested to know, incidentally.
Keep up the good work, Cheers, Tom.

 

[flagstaff]

copy that m8, will let the forum know how the thing goes ...

 

[Merc Boi]

im about to replace the head gasket on a 1995 280E (i believe its the same engine)

did you lock up the cams and crank if so, do i need any special tools for this job? removing the tensioner ect

many thanks

 

[kth286]

Do not replace the tensioner into the block again without dismantling it and pushing the internals out the back end; and then inserting the internal into the main body after the main body has been screwed into block.

The tensioner has a ratchet system and if you do not do it properly you WILL end up with a broken camshaft because the chain will be too tight.

See previous posts on the subject.