Head Gasket Problems

Greetings!

I'm new to this site and this is my first post.

I recently started help my father inlaw to tear down his '96 C220's motor to replace the head gasket that was obviously leaking. Unfortunatly we are new to these cars and have gotten into a bit of a bind.

My first question for the group is how the heck do you remove the timing cahin to remove the head? We have already removed everything we can find connected to the head but It doesnt look like it wil be coming out with the chain still there. We rotated it around and around looking for some sort of master link but to no avail. It took me about 15 minites of forcefully rotating the crank when I realized life would be much easier if we removed the plugs releiving the compression and hard turning.

My second question is what would be the best manual to get for such a procedure. We've searched high and low and I cant seem to find any good engine manuals for this car. I also went to the BENTLY MANUAL site and couldnet find the right book for the model and year.

Any help regarding my dilema would be appreciated.

Here is two shots of the motor. One is of where we are in the removal of the head and the other is a close up of the chocolate milk (oil-coolant) that was all over the place.

http://www.mtmdesign.com/benzoMilk2.jpg

http://www.mtmdesign.com/benzoMilk1.jpg

You have to remove the timing chain gears. Mercedes uses a special tool to do this.

Good luck, I will ask my father tomarrow, he is a tech at mercedes, he should be able to help out:)

Hope you can wait till morning.

Thanks for the reply!

If you could get me any info (procedure-manuals) from your father I'd really appreciate it. We're pretty stumped right now and dont want to mess things up.

Ya the mercedes engines have some pretty strange procedures you have to do to take them apart. But i will call my father in the morning and ask him about it.

No problem thats what im here for

on left hand side of engine,looking from front,just in front of manifold you will find the timing chain adjuster bolt.undo this then, undo cam wheels,tie chain with length of wire to stop it falling.pass head through.

Ok heres how to do it from a MErcedes tech

" Take the cover infront of the cam gears off, on the exhaust cam you will see 3 bolts holding it on, remove those. Drop the chain down and take the head off, Simple"

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/118279benzoMilk2.jpg

"also be very carfull with the electronic throttle, the have problems with those cars"

This is what my father, a mercedes tech, said to do.