Ready to buy tools for doing a valve adjustment. Do I need the valve spring retainer wrench as well as the 2 14mm bent wrenches? Anybody have torque numbers for reinstallation of valve cover? Do I need to disconnect a fuel supply before I turn the engine? Any other adjustments I need to do while I am at it? Other advice on procedure?
If you buy the wrenches from Mercedessource, you will need to thin one down by about 1/8 to 3/16 inch in order to slip it onto the locking nut without grabbing the adjusting cap nut. And you will also want to take off the silver paint they put on them or else it will flake off into your engine.
I did it without the spring retainer wrench.
Torque is pretty tight, but not so tight that you strip the threads. Tighten cross-corner little by little. With your new gasket, you should get a good seal. You can get it leak proof without making it able to withstand the deep vacuum of outer space.
I did not disconnect the fuel lines. Just jumped in and cranked it for 1/2 second, then checked to see where I was. Get some shop rags.
You will need feeler gauges:
http://www.mytoolstore.com/kd/kdfeel01.html
The metric set there includes a .10 and a .35 to adjust easily when cold.
Clockwise loosens (same on both nuts). Loosen bottom lock nut, then bring down cap nut to spec, then bring lock nut back up (counter clockwise to tighten).
Don't put oven cleaner on your valve cover and let it sit while you're doing it because the cover will blacken and corrode. Though, it would be a good time to hit it with some steel wool.
Before you rip the cover off, make sure the line between the injectors is unhooked from the little hook it's hooked to. (Just look, you'll see it.) And make sure your emergency stop is out of the way before you crank the cover back down.
Thank you very much for the primer. I think I'll go with the Hazet wrenches. Waiting on a quote from Samstag.
I love this forum and all the helpful people here. I wish work didn't interfere so much with my time here and with my car.
[:0]
The measurements are .10 intake, .35 exhaust COLD,
and .15 intake, .40 exhaust at 60 C.
No need for sealant. 2/1000 of a mm shouldn't hurt anything.
With the right wrench, there is no reason you can't get it done without the spring retainer wrench. How does that thing work anyway? Seems like just MORE stuff in there to get in the way. Maybe you need it if you're replacing parts like adjusting nuts?
BTW, you will also want to print out a copy of the skinnerbox page that gives you a picture of the valves and mark which ones you've done as you go.
Thanks again to all for the great information.
Haynes manual says .30 for non-turbo and .35 for turbo, cold. Intakes are the same at .10.
I bought the wrenches from Baum...Samstag never returned email asking for quote. To be fair, neither did Baum, but they have a toll free number and phone hours that I could use. So....gulp...$79 for the two wrenches. I think it's probably an exchange rate thing, the guy checked the rate while he had me on the phone. I went ahead with the deal, bnut could have had them cheaper from here:
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