I recently have noticed after a couple of days without starting my SL that when it first cranks I'm getting a loud metallic tapping sound. It goes away after a couple of minutes and runs fine from then on.It reminds me of an older Chevy I used to have, I replaced the tapppets and solved the problem. I am not familiar with this engine and was wondering if some one else has had this problem or is it common for these to leak down with 124K miles on the engine.

Thanks for any advice,

 

is the engine a 500 SL??

 

Yes it's a 95 SL 500, I just joined this forum and I thought it would be on my signature.
Thanks for making me aware of this for future posts.

 

you need the oil crossover tubes that lubricate the lifters on ht ecamshafts. this is common on the 119 motor 500's. thats is most likely what the noise is!!

 

I have the same problem on my 94 sl500 with 90,000 miles, is it an expensive repair

 

not to bad ,but if you are handy you might be able to do it yourself but you must take off the valve cover and loosen the camshaft bridge that holds down the cam. here is a pic of the oil crossover tubes. the caps on the ends pop off then they dont lubricate correctly.

[IMG]local://upfiles/20215/64D929A1FEF54125A35ABB954590A462.jpg[/IMG]

 

thanks for the reply

 

Thanks for the info, I have been away sorry took so long to get back.
I going to pull the covers and take a look !
I will post my findings.