I recently adjusted the valves in my 85 300D. It was my first try at this and it went really well. I purchased a set of Hazet wrenches here from Fastlane and they worked well.

I then moved on to my 84 300D a few weeks later, which I suspected was in greater need of an adjustment, as I did not see anything in the records about valve adjustments in recent history. The first cylinder went well but as I moved down the line, I found that it was very difficult to get the wrench around a few of the nuts. Then I ran into one that was about impossible. I thought 14mm was 14mm. I really didn't want to do it but I finally took my new Hazet wrench to the grinding wheel and ground off a fraction of metal. All went much better after that.

Has anyone else had this experience? I am assuming that the adjustment nuts were to spec when they were new. What is going on here? I am thinking that someone perhaps put a lot of pressure on when tightening and moved some metal around. But that seems like it would take a lot of torque that would be hard to apply with a small wrench.

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85 300D 75K Anthracite Grey 0-60 in 13 seconds **For Sale**
84 300D 333K Black (The Velveteen Rabbit) 0-60 in 14 seconds
00 Toyota Sienna 208K (Sold)
15 Subaru Outback 43K
11 Subaru Outback 67K
98 Ford Taurus 100K (Gertie - Was Grandma's - drove it to church and shopping - really) Daughter's car now.
30 Model A Ford 2 Door Sedan (Sold) 0-60 in . . . Never reached 60

$100+ set of wrenches, and you ground them?


From repetitive tightening of the counternut it is possible to flatten either of the two nuts. The mushrooming effect would cause that. The FSM even takes a moment to mention that I think.

your wrenches may now damage otherwise good nuts if they have lost shape.

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Ive had this same problem and after 10 valves (that DID NOT want to adjust to where I want them), a broken 13mm bolt that holds the linkage on and 3 hours I finally threw both my wrenches at the concrete (causing them both to shatter into a total of six pieces ).


I still haven't MIG'ed them back together yet. There really is something amazing about breaking things when your pissed at your mercedes...

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1981 300SD 512k OM603

Did a regular 14mm fit over the nuts or was it that the Hazets were tighter?
The only problem I had with the Hazets is I found back on the 5th cylinder the out side of the wrench head was a little fat and hit one of the Camshaft Bearing Towers not allowing the Wrench to get a full bite; but there was enought bite to do the job.

I also bought a set of Heyco (older? looked well used) valve adjusting wrenches and found that the wrench heads are not as wide on them.

Another thing that I found is that the Hazet Valve Adjusting Wrench that is shorter (they make a short one also) was handier on the 5th cylinder were there is less room.
In the pic below the short handled one is on the top and the long handled one is on the bottom.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I had to use one of those small keymaker`s files on one of the locknuts (rounded,the wrench wouldn`t fit)-didn`t want to spoil the wrench...but I proceded with springs & seals change,so I collected all the shavings...I also bought a set of new locknuts and they seemed to be a bit harder and of different alloy(although the rest of the old nuts were allright ,heightwise too). Mine is a Hazet set of 2 shorter wrenches+the retainer,the nuts need a torque reference of 20-30Nm IIRC.

I think it should be mentioned that there are a couple or three types of camshaft... and certain types of followers and valve cap nuts... these things are touching each other and must match up as some level... there are two types of cap nut ( the top one ) and one can be used with either type of follower... but the other is restricted as to what it can be put next to...
So everyone needs to check these things when replacing these items to prevent damage from mismatching...

Indeed...Mercedes now offer only the chilled cast iron cams+everything else needed(a lot of stuff at $$$$) for the change...yes,gotta be very careful and check the material of the cam and rocker arms...cap nuts too.

http://www.schumanautomotive.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5900

Yep. I ground them. I suspect it was about 1/10th of mm. I was faced with standing there staring at the camshaft or taking some kind of action. I tried gettng a crescent wrench in there but it was useless. I have never hesitated to customize a tool that I own to get a job done better. Now if I had borrowed your Hazet wrenches, that would be a different story.

I do not think I reshaped the wrenches enough to cause damage in future adjustments. They did not seem loose at all as I proceeded down the line, and they did not slip off at all either.

I appreciate your concerns, but I think minor surgery was the only alternative I had.

It sounds like I came out ahead of turbobenz. $90 wrenches in six pieces? I would have been sick. My blood pressure was going up but I took a break to regroup and consider my alternatives. To make matters worse, I was working outside as I had better light, but the temperature was dropping, the sun was moving toward setting, my fingers were starting to get a little stiff, and leaves were periodically falling onto my exposed camshaft. I was trying to remind myself of how much I love working on my car and what a sense of accomplishment I will feel when this procedure is done.

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85 300D 75K Anthracite Grey 0-60 in 13 seconds **For Sale**
84 300D 333K Black (The Velveteen Rabbit) 0-60 in 14 seconds
00 Toyota Sienna 208K (Sold)
15 Subaru Outback 43K
11 Subaru Outback 67K
98 Ford Taurus 100K (Gertie - Was Grandma's - drove it to church and shopping - really) Daughter's car now.
30 Model A Ford 2 Door Sedan (Sold) 0-60 in . . . Never reached 60

I did not have a regular 14mm wrench to try. I have metric sockets but all of my wrenches are SAE (English). Maybe I should put metric wrenches on my Christmas list.

I was also getting hung up on the camshaft bearing towers but was able to work around the problem. I just didn't have as much flexibility in placing the wrench on the nuts.

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85 300D 75K Anthracite Grey 0-60 in 13 seconds **For Sale**
84 300D 333K Black (The Velveteen Rabbit) 0-60 in 14 seconds
00 Toyota Sienna 208K (Sold)
15 Subaru Outback 43K
11 Subaru Outback 67K
98 Ford Taurus 100K (Gertie - Was Grandma's - drove it to church and shopping - really) Daughter's car now.
30 Model A Ford 2 Door Sedan (Sold) 0-60 in . . . Never reached 60

Excuse me for assuming the worst. I probably would have done the same thing (staring at the camshaft is only fun the first time) if I did not have new Counternuts on hand.


1/10 of a mm? That is certainly a testament to the precision of those wrenches.


Glad to hear everything worked out.

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LOL I'm glad it worked out Richard.

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Chad
2006 Nissan Pathfinder LE
1998 Acura 3.0 CL
OBK#44
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

SOLD
1985 300TD - Red Dragon
1986 300SDL - Coda
1991 - 300TE
1995 - E320
1985 300CD - Gladys

I had to do the same thing as RML. I got my wrenches from Dieselgiant and the first time I went to use them found they were tight as hell on the adjuster nuts. So I filed some metal off the inner faces of the "C". It made them much easier to use.

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'81 300CD - 180K, cannot be killed by any conventional means
'99 Ford Escort - good MPG

Well I am glad to know I am not alone in the wrench modification club.

I used to assume that this kind of stuff happens to me because I am an amateur, but the more experience I get and the more I compare notes with other people, the less I am convinced that professionals are as immune from oddball problems as I was once convinced. In fact, what I am discovering is that the reason I sometimes get things back and they are not fixed correctly (whether it be something on my van, which for the most part I do not work on, or something that the PO of my house had done) is that when some "professionals" run into a time consuming problem, rather than take the time to follow it through correctly, they often just take a shortcut and call it "good enough" in the interest of not cutting into profits. This bothers me to no end and is why I like to work on things myself.

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85 300D 75K Anthracite Grey 0-60 in 13 seconds **For Sale**
84 300D 333K Black (The Velveteen Rabbit) 0-60 in 14 seconds
00 Toyota Sienna 208K (Sold)
15 Subaru Outback 43K
11 Subaru Outback 67K
98 Ford Taurus 100K (Gertie - Was Grandma's - drove it to church and shopping - really) Daughter's car now.
30 Model A Ford 2 Door Sedan (Sold) 0-60 in . . . Never reached 60

You could have used a 9/16" Wrench. In fact 9/16 is just barely slighly sloppier of a fit. I am thinking that might have been perfect.

In fact some people including Myself have used 9/16" wrenches to make a set of Valve Wrenches.
I like the ones I made better than the Heyco or Hazet wrench set that I have because the Heads are smaller and the Handles are slightly shorter than the long handled Hazet Wrench. So they ended up being handier than the Hazet Set.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Behind you 100%. I don't hesitate to hack up a wrench if it means I will be able to complete the repair.

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment