Originally Posted by bcsawyer

Due to an illness in the family and a lot of stuff on the farm that had to be done, I haven't had time to work on the car since before Thanksgiving until the last few days. I've got the basics done to get it inspected and on the road, but still have to do a few minor things like a window regulator, dash lights, and some interior stuff. After letting it run quite a bit and putting in fresh fuel with new filters, I have noticed a lot of noise from the front of the motor that sounds like a really slack timing chain. I haven't been able to do a valve adjustment yet, but I'm thinking that I need to go ahead and replace the timing chain when I do. Is it a terribly expensive or time consuming task? This is the first Mercedes I've dealt with and I've been impressed with how simple it is to work on. From what I've read here and other places, it sounds like some valvetrain work would certainly help the smoking issue.