Cost of fitting new cam chain to W123 200?

[gassygassy]

My W123 200 has done 199,980 miles so I would like to treat it to a new cam chain but it's something I can't do.
What would be a price for the work to be done?
I live in the middle of England. Any suggestions where to get it done?

 

[Smart320]

Would suggest Mercland in Nuneaton

 

[gassygassy]

Bleurrrggh. They said it will be about £3000. Well I never! Or words to that effect.
In the words of Victor Meldrew "I don't beleeeeeeeeeeeeve it"

 

[Will]

It’s probably not about the chain, but likely sprockets, guides, tensioner plus labour.

Would probably need more than just a chain at 200k miles anyway - head overhaul? Where do you stop!

 

[Pontoneer]

If you are just doing the chain , and not the tensioners , it isn't that hard a job .

If you can obtain a Haynes manual , the process is described in there . If you don't have a Haynes manual , many public libraries have them ; you can go in and read through the relevant part before deciding whether you'd feel comfortable doing the job .

The price quoted depends whether the garage is just winding a new chain in and possibly replacing the tensioner as a precaution . I'd be shocked at that £3000 quote unless they plan to strip the engine , and replace the sprockets and guide rails along with the chain and tensioner - unless your engine is noticeably rattly , this should not be needed .

As a very rough guide , to just change the chain , it is along the lines of the following ; I've done a few , but not in recent years .

Remove the spark plugs so you can turn the engine easily by hand ; remove cam cover and rotate to see if existing chain has a splittable link ; this is likely if it has been changed before , otherwise one of the links will have to be cut or broken .

Split chain , taking care not to drop either end in ( a good hint is , before you split the old chain , to get some stiff wire like from a coathanger and hook into the chain a few links along and tie it off so that it can't be dropped in - until you are ready with the new chain joined on ) , then with the new chain joined onto the end of the old one , wind it round by hand until the two ends of the new chain are visible .

Join ends up and check you can still crank the engine round by hand without anything catching before attempting to start it . If you have lost the timing in the process and something is fouling , you will need to refer to the timing marks on the crank and camshafts to get it re-timed before you try to start it . As long as you've only been winding it round by hand , if something fouls , no damage will have been done .

Of course , if there is any noise or rattling at present , you at least need to do the tensioner at the same time ( can be done with care without major upheaval , process also shown in the Haynes manual ) , and also check for wear on the sprockets , which then turns it into a bigger job .

 

[Pontoneer]

As Will says , a lot depends on the state of your engine and how far you wish to go .

A useful test would be to get hold of a compression tester and check the compressions across all four cylinders - if they are all good chances are your valves , pistons & rings are all good , so nothing majorly wrong with the top end .

I can't remember if W123s were OK to run with unleaded petrol , and without modification , I certainly never bothered with any of mine and never had any problems , but if you were planning to keep the car long term , having the head modified to cope with unleaded petrol would be a good reason to overhaul it .

That said , if you've been running the car a while and have no problems with either loss of compression or head gasket , it might be best to leave well alone .

If the car is running well , with no noises or problems , it might be best to wind in a new chain and just replace the tensioner as a precaution . An oil change at the same time would make sense , to my mind , without going over the top on anything else .

 

[gassygassy]

Thanks for all the advice. I have been quoted £920 by a specialist near Oxford so that is where I'll go. I think there are two tensioners - or I suppose to be more accurate one tensioner and two chain guides. The Oxford place is replacing all of them, getting all genuine parts from Germany. I'll get him to check the cylinder compressions as well while I am there. You make it sound as if it is less than a day's work but this chap says it ought to be if nothing else is found to be needed. I'm going to have to hang around and if it isn't finished in the day I'll have to stop overnight somewhere. Public transport from here to there either takes 5hr 50 minutes by bus or £30 each way by train which is faster. So I may as well get a Premier Inn if it's not done in the day.
I wonder what it would cost in Germany? Last year I had occasion to take my Sprinter motorhome into a MB dealership in France and the labour rate varied according to the skill for each part of the job. Take vehicle into workshop, put it on ramp. 0.1hr at €60. Dismantle dashboard 2hr at € 90. Replace 3 faulty servos 1hr at €100. Reprogram servos 0.5hr at €110. That compares very favourably with the leicester commercial MB dealer where they charge a flat rate of £160 / hr plus VAT. So I half wonder if is cheaper to take the car to Germany, or France. Apparently it is a legal requirement in France to charge different rates for different skill levels.