Our 87 300TD suffered a significant loss of power, coupled with huge anounts of black smoke.

This was several years after the warranty replacement of the trap oxidizer.

I found a very high backpressure, using the port in the front of the exhaust manifold, then verified the problem by loosening the downpipe from the manifold. Car ran like gangbusters after pipe was loosened.

Removed the oxy cat and found it plugged. Chucked it in a large vise and sharpened a piece of rebar to look like a flat screwdriver. Broke out the ceramic matrix and left the hollow case. One of the flanges is close to the oxy cat material, easy enough to do.

Car ran better than ever and appeared to be stock when inspected.

Jim

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14 E250 BlueTEC black. 45k miles
95 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 66k miles
94 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 152k miles
85 300TD 4 spd man, euro bumpers and lights, 15" Pentas dark blue 274k miles