DD-ization, Part 2

The Mercedes been in the shop for 2,5 weeks now. As you would expect they started at the top of the list; timing chain and guide rails. Unfortunately the job of getting the guide rails changed wasn't as much of a breeze as I'd hoped. To get access to the bottom guide rails, you of course have to take off the timing cover. However, to do that, you need to disassemble pretty much everything there is in between the engine and the radiator grille, and that's not all, you need to work the underside of the engine as well.

I was glad I decided to have them changed though, one of the upper guide rails had already snapped clean in 2. I was really worried the other rails were beginning to go as well. Gives me tremendous peace of mind to know the chain & rails are brand new.

This is the bare minimum amount of disassembling you need to do to change the timing chain. You can just feed the new chain in through the exposed sprocket at the end of the camshaft. For this the bulk of disassembly was the airbox & inlet pipes.

Both cam covers removed. At this point you can check the upper guide rails for wear & damage.

Most of the front now disassembled, some work still left to do before the timing cover will come off.

Fruit of all that disassembling labour: timing cover is off as is the old chain. All of the guide rails can now be replaced; what a great time to notice one of them was not shipped! A few days' wait for a very cheap, but crucial part.

New chain is installed, the red guide rail is the one that was missing.

While doing this I'll be replacing almost all of the seals that are involved, including water & oil pump seals, cam cover seals, etc. Next week the timing cover should be going back on and the engine bay slowly back together.

A pic from under the plastic side paneling, as you can see there's very little corrosion, which is a relief.

The shop will treat the inside with anti-corrosion gel and reinstall the side paneling with proper fasteners.