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Hello:
I haven't had a distributor out on a B280F, but just getting the cap and rotor off is a bit fidgety-- fairly tight quarters, but really no worse than on a rear mounted B230...
As for the leaks, Simple Green or Gunk followed by a high pressure wash at a DIY carwash helps you to pinpoint problems (just don't spray electronic components).
The diesel oil formulation is high detergent-- I think the recommendation stems from the B28 days when narrow oil galleys clogging in the heads contributed to cam failure. I think it is cheap insurance. Mine runs very clean-- the oil looks honey brown for many, many miles!
I have heard of one timing chain breaking at around 200K mi. If you decide to tackle this, you might as well wait for a valve adjustment, because the valve covers have to come off anyway for the timing chain replacement. Even valve adjustments are a big deal because the compressor has to come off the left valve cover to do the adjustment. Too bad, because otherwise the adjusters look just like an old air cooled VW-- no shims! It would be a good time to do water pump, belts and hoses as well as the front crank seal. I haven't done one, so I can't offer much advice. There appears to be two kinds of timing chains, one with a tensioner and another without...
30,000 miles between valve adjustments amounts to every couple or 3 years. Noisy valves are often less dangerous to engine health than tight ones-- the tight ones stretch stems. I haven't heard anything in particular about B280s being prone to this, though...
I wouldn't knowingly let any motor of mine run below the hatched line on the dipstick-- that corresponds to a whole quart. If I had to add more than a quart over 5000 miles due to leakage or burning, I'd be wondering what was up!
Good luck!
Herb Goltz, London, Ontario, Canada '89 760GLE w/171K mi
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