Timing chain guides inspection

[B500EWF]

Hi all,

I keep reading about potential (and actual) failures of timing chain guides on the M119 which lead to expensive, often fata damaging of the engine. My E500 is currently at 129k km (so, approximately 80k miles), but I have no proper visibility over what kind of maintenance work was done by the previous owner (the car was bought at auction from Japan). Thus, for my peace of mind, I am thinking it would be a good idea to at least performa an inspection of the timing chain and guides, but is that possible? Or is it best to just do the full job of replacing the guides preventively etc.? Any insight on what repair manuals state would also be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance and best regards from Romania.

 

[gsxr]

You can perform a visual inspection by removing both valve covers. This also will allow you to measure timing chain "stretch", which is a misnomer... the chain rarely will stretch, but broken chain rails will cause the cam timing to be out of spec. New guides would be a good idea proactively, but if all are 100% intact and the timing is in spec, you could delay that job for a while.

Search the forum for details on the chain rail replacement and chain measurement / spec. Use the factory manual here.