hi all,

I had several problems with my idle since my timing chain and tensioner replacement...see here 2.5 16v Timing Chain Nightmare!

I bought a compression tester and ran a compression test this evening to see what’s occurring - results as follows:

1 12.2 bar
2 12.8 bar
3 12.9 bar
4 12.8 bar

So, cylinder 1 is slightly down, does anyone have thoughts on that? Bad valve or something? I have no blowback so am confident rings are ok, engine still runs as good as ever from 2000 rpm upwards.....

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Steve Howson

http://www.markthomastrimming.com/storage/sigpic.jpg

www.mercedes-cosworth.co.uk

I say it looks good. All the numbers are pretty much in line with each other.

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Ali Al-Chalabi

2001 CLK55
1999 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel
2002 Harley-Davidson Fatboy
Merlin Extralight w/ Campy Record

I thought it looked good as well, and then after thinking some more, it seems suspect. #1 is probably not out-of-spec, but something is going on, probably with the valves, given the closeness of the other readings. I would try a can or two of Techron in the gas tank and see what happens.

Did you ever resolve your idle problem?

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Chuck Taylor
Falls Church VA
'66 200, '66 230SL, '96 SL500. Sold: '81 380SL, '86 300E, '72 250C, '95 C220, 3 '84 280SL's '90 420SEL, '72 280SE, '73 280C, '78 280SE, '70 280SL, '77 450SL, '85 380SL, '87 560SL, '85 380SL, '72 350SL, '96 S500 Coupe

nope, idle still bad although after setting mixture correctly it got better. i accepted defeat - its in the garage now, I'll hear whats up soon. 1st time in years a car has beat me and I have had to use a garage....

also, what techron???

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Steve Howson

http://www.markthomastrimming.com/storage/sigpic.jpg

www.mercedes-cosworth.co.uk

You pussy, never surrender!!!!

Actually, I know exactly as you felt. I chased stalling/surging issues with my wife's 16V for over a year. I even tried to talk my neighbor into fixing it. He is an old German mechanic with a Audi/BMW/M.B. shop. He came over and threw out some suggestions, but didn't want anything to do with it. I could just hear that little voice inside his head saying this thing is going to waste many hours of his time.

Unfortunately, I haven't found an independent like Stevebfl, MB Doc or a few other good mechanics and big contributors to the success of this site, within my area. I've become rather self sufficient in diagnoising and repairing all the car's issues/problems, so far, (knock on wood).

If the Benz is your primary transportation, then it becomes that much more important to get it running correctly/quickly.

I hope your mechanic is qualified to diagnois it and won't simply throw parts at it.

Please let us know what they discover.

Best of luck.

Tinker

Good News: car is back, running like a charm, repair bill was a quite reasonable £130.

Bad News: it was me valve timing was out....

Oh well, it works now!!!

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Steve Howson

http://www.markthomastrimming.com/storage/sigpic.jpg

www.mercedes-cosworth.co.uk

Steve,

Congrats! Glad to hear its running and it didn't cost you an arm and a leg. You must have missed the cam timing by a tooth? In looking at your prior posted pitcures, does look like the dimples on the sprockets are a bit high?

Even doing the chain and tensioner yourself, you still probably came out ahead dollar wise. As long as you value your time at $0.10 an hour like me.

Enjoy.

Tinker

the same garage quoted £500 for the job. it cost me £80 in parts plus the £130 for them to rectify my mistake, still loads cheaper than the garage doing the whole job......just glad its all sorted now

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Steve Howson

http://www.markthomastrimming.com/storage/sigpic.jpg

www.mercedes-cosworth.co.uk