The Dreaded Single Row Timing Chain on the 1981-1983 Mercedes-Benz 380 sl

 Even the very best Mercedes mechanic can be flummoxed and fooled by this issue! 

As mentioned in the previous post, when I bought my Mercedes 380 sl via Ebay in 2014 I was oblivious to the fact that 1981-1983 SLs in the American market came with single chain timing chains. The cars were later taken care of by Mercedes, but a number were never repaired and are still out there waiting for an unsuspecting buyer. And to replace with a double chain now is costly -- minimally $3 thousand dollars (Probably 5k now). 

That makes my buy of a very clean body California/Arizona car in jeopardy of turning into a boondoggle! 

You can quickly check whether you have a single or double chain easily by looking through the space under the valve cover after taking out the oil filler cap. And by God, I was saved again from a financial decision by a faithful God.

The single row chain was just not strong enough for any Mercedes V-8, even the M116. Failure resulted in bent valves damaged valve train and in sum catastrophic engine damage. Warning signs (Justin case you have one) include rattling chain noise on start-up. (Not to be confused with a disintegrating air pump clutch). The chain can fail without warning.

And if you want to know how to replace a timing chain, see this:

Within a week after I got the car home, I took it to Foreign Excahnge in Moraine and had an experienced mechanic replace my double chain. The car had 99K miles on it, and it was reported that my replaced double chain had stretched.  Now my new Mercedes should be good for another 100k.

The Mercedes_Benz 1982 380 Sl -- How It All Began

 

I rarely do things logically or after careful and thoughtful research, when it comes to my own cars. That was certainly the case in 2014 when I purchased a Mercedes-Benz 380 SL. It was February in Dayton, Ohio, a particularly dark winter Saturday and the demons that purse me must have been active. 

I made a similar mistake about 30 years later when I purchased a molested 1971 Porsche 911T targa. No ida what I was buying escape a cursory inspection. I had no experience with air cooled Porsches, or any Porsche for that matter. It would be a painful, long illness, finally ending with a sale to a buyer equally as ignorant as I was three decades prior. But it also served as a mechanical and technical education, though costly one.

Back to the Mercedes. It was advertised as an unmolested car with Southern California and Arizona homes. Purportedly it had good compression.  It looked great (most for sale Mercedes SLs  do!). 99K miles.  All original, everything in its proper place. So I made an impulsive bid, went to the gym, watched some tennis, and then discovered that I had just won a car I knew nothing about.

Before I gave the man who posted the ad -- an agent for a woman artist from San Diego who washout of money (who isn’t), my son-in-law and daughter living in SoCal took a look at the car and OKed it -- albeit not terribly enthusiastically -- and the money was handed over.  Arrangements were made for Pablo to haul the car to Centerville, Ohio, and I now owned a vehicle that would be a money pit without end.  But loved by me beyond all reason.

The car was a 1982 -- and came off the assembly line with a fatal flaw any intelligent buyer (but not me) would know -- the dreaded single timing chain. In time, it wobbled and then snapped, destroying the engine if not attended to.  Luckily I dodged one bullet, as a double chain had been retrofitted some time in the past. But there was more bullets to dodge, as I learned that this beautiful car that was pristine in several ways -- was the result of German over engineering, complex electronics an fuel system, and vacuum connections and actuators that befuddle even the best of mechanics, let alone me. I was in store for another education over the net 12 years.  

Oh, for the simplicity of my old 1973 Pinto with a Kent engine.

I did not go with the best transport outfit, but here is an ad for the best!

2026 Hungarian Grand Prix F1 -- Results

 

• Kimi Antonelli finished third with George Russell P7 in Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
• Both drivers started on the Medium tire with George lining up P6 and Kimi P7. 
• George unfortunately dropped to the back of the field after suffering anti-stall off the line; the team is investigating the cause.
• Kimi moved up to P6 and held that in the opening laps. From there, he ran a two-stop strategy by switching to the Hard tire at both stops and built up a tire offset on those ahead.
• That enabled him to cycle through to P3 and, despite an unfortunately timed Virtual Safety Car, he held off the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton to take the final spot on the podium.
• George meanwhile fought back valiantly and scythed his way through the field and back into the points.
• He also ran a two-stop strategy and fell just short of passing the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar in the final laps, settling for P7.
• The team heads into the summer break leading both the Constructors’ and the Drivers’ World Championships and returns to action in Zandvoort next month.

• Kimi Antonelli

  It was not an easy race today. It was very difficult to overtake, even when we had significantly more pace than the cars ahead. We knew it might be like that today and so it proved. We did well to build a decent tyre offset to those ahead though throughout the race and that enabled us to get up into the podium positions.

  I initially wanted to target a one-stop race. It seemed like it might be possible in the opening stint but then we started to suffer with the rears. We made the call to go onto the two-stop and in the final stint, had really good pace. The Virtual Safety Car made our lives a little more difficult with Lewis (Hamilton) getting fresh tyres and being right behind us, but we were able to bring home P3. 

  We have had a much better first half of the season than we perhaps expected at the very start. This is where we are at now though and we need to keep going, keep pushing on and doing the best job we can. It is going to be an intense second half of the year, but we are ready for it. 

  George Russell

  That was another tough race. We lost lots of positions off the line and that ruined our chances of fighting for the podium. We’re not sure exactly what happened just yet. We did all the procedures as we normally do but it didn’t behave as we expected. The anti-stall then kicked in, and we dropped to the back of the field. The positive is that our pace across the rest of the race was strong and we were able to fight back to P7. That is not where we want to be finishing but is still points.

  It has not been a smooth first half of the season. I am looking forward to this break so we can reset and come back stronger after the summer shutdown. It has been a bit of a rollercoaster on my side so far and I am hoping the second half of the year can be much better. 

  Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO

  Both drivers put in strong races today. Kimi did well to get onto the podium and P3 and George did brilliantly to fight back after the opening lap. His problem at the start was fully on us as a team and it isn’t good enough. He has suffered too many of these problems; we are doing everything we can to get on top of them, but it is unfortunately another issue that has cost him again today.

  We nearly got very unlucky with yet another ill-timed Virtual Safety Car, but Kimi defended well to hold off Lewis (Hamilton). It was good damage limitation after a difficult day yesterday. 

  We go into the summer shutdown with a points gap in both championships that we would have taken at the start of the season. That is good but we know we need to keep pushing after the break, keep developing and improve our reliability. That will be the key if we are to not only fight for both championships but win them.

  Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

  Today was the first race of the season where we were starting further back with both cars and therefore was about damage limitation. Kimi delivered a very measured race, and we used the flexibility of the two-stop strategy well. By managing the first two stints carefully, we were able to build a significant tire life advantage over the cars ahead, and that gave him the pace he needed to move into podium contention in the final part of the race. The Virtual Safety Car was not ideal as it reduced that advantage and brought Lewis onto our gearbox, but Kimi managed the situation well and defended strongly to secure P3.

  On George's side, we are obviously disappointed by the issue at the start. The anti-stall activation dropped him to the back of the field and made what was always going to be a challenging race even more difficult. We need to understand exactly why that happened, but once he recovered from the opening lap, his pace was very competitive, and he fought back through the field to salvage important points.

  We head into the summer break leading both championships, which is a good position to be in, but we know there are areas where we need to improve. Reliability remains a key focus, and we will use the shutdown to analyse the first half of the season and ensure we return after the break ready for a very competitive run to the end of the year.

1960 Plymouth Fury

 I saw this at the Kettering Ohio Cruise-In this afternoon and very much liked it. It was an example of the age of tailfins at its best, but also just as the age was in the last years of its life. Lter years would tone them done before leaving them to the auto graveyard. There are not many of these cars around now. In part, build quality at Chrysler was pretty low in 1960, plus sales were lower of these cars, perhaps because customers were now turning away from the tailfin design after 5 years of excess.

I love the oblong steering wheel, complex design of taillight, and push button transmission controls. It was the era of "Leave it to Beaver" and "Palladin."

My 1982 Mercedes-Benz R 107 380 SL

 Friday night Cruise-In, Greene County, Ohio. 

25 Years of the Mercedes-Benz R 230

 

Mercedes-Benz SL 500 (R 230). Driving shot from front left from the year 2001. (Photo index number in the Mercedes-Benz Classic Archives: A2001F2627)

• The R 230 ushered in a new generation of the Mercedes-Benz SL tradition
• Its vario-roof transforms the coupé into a roadster (or vice versa) in just 16 seconds
• From comfortable touring car to high-performance AMG model: Exceptional versatility
• Mercedes-Benz MB-80 warranty package: Added peace of mind for modern classics

The Mercedes-Benz R 230 SL launched on the market 25 years ago. It embodied the properties of a sporty touring car in its purest form. With outstanding comfort, sophisticated performance and a timeless design, it was equally suited for relaxed long-distance touring as well as dynamic driving. With technical and safety innovations such as the vario-roof, the R 230 carried the Mercedes-Benz SL tradition into the 21st century. All of this now makes it a highly sought-after modern classic. At the same time, the model series represents a generational shift in the SL tradition: never before had an SL so consistently combined the classic virtues of a roadster with the technological opportunities of its times.

The vario-roof makes the R 230 a true master of transformation: at the touch of a button or via remote control, it can be opened or closed in just 16 seconds. Eleven hydraulic cylinders, 17 limit switches and numerous sensors perform the precisely choreographed sequence – and even rotate the rear window around its horizontal axis so that luggage capacity increases when the roof is open. The R 230 therefore unifies the advantages of a sports coupé and a roadster. As a world first, it also came with a panoramic vario-roof featuring a glass element. This creates the feeling of driving in the open air even when the roof is closed.

Particularly exclusive are vehicles with special equipment features from the design program, a predecessor of today’s MANUFAKTUR lines of equipment options. Bespoke exterior colors, premium Nappa leather, two-tone color combinations and select trim elements give these vehicles an unmistakable character. To this day, SL models with designo equipment options remain among the most desired variants of the model series.

Refined performance with V8 and V12

The SL 500 celebrated its world premiere in Hamburg’s Deichtorhallen on 31 July 2001. With its 5-litre V8 and 225 kW (306 hp), it marked the beginning of a model range with an exceptionally broad performance spectrum – from comfortable touring car all the way to high-performance sports car. Shortly after the market launch, the range was extended to include the SL 55 AMG, featuring a V8 supercharged engine delivering 350 kW (476 hp). The range went on to reach its pinnacle with the V12 biturbo-powered SL 600 and the SL 65 AMG Black Series with 493 kW (670 hp).

Just two days before the world premiere of the new SL model series, the general public already witnessed a sporty representative in action. At the German Grand Prix on 29 July 2001, the SL 55 AMG took over as the Formula 1® Safety Car. Even before its official unveiling, the new model series thus demonstrated its sporty character. In its 12/2001 issue, specialist magazine “sport auto” shared its first impressions of the new SL generation: “The new model is not only visually stunning and technically extremely appealing, it also reveals itself as [...] no stranger to genuine sporting capability.”

Safety and aerodynamics

The R 230 also set new standards in safety. Its passive safety concept is based on a body structure which strategically combines high-strength steel, aluminum, magnesium and various plastics. Thanks to its lightweight construction the R 230 is 20 per cent more torsionally rigid than its predecessor, the R 129. A newly developed head-thorax side airbag, combining the functions of a window airbag and a side airbag, reduces the risk of injury in case of an accident. Optimized aerodynamics also offer occupants better protection from draughts when driving with the roof down, while the drag coefficient value is significantly reduced to 0.29 compared to the R 129 (c_d = 0.32).