Wow, that's not such good news to hear. I'm surprised that a weakness of this nature could be allowed to leave Mercedes' engineering department. As far as cylinder head cracks, I suppose there's not much anyone can do about that. As for the carbon issue from the EGR valve, do you know of an additive that can be added to the fuel that will control deposit formation? I have had good success in gasoline engines with BG44K. Is this additive suitable for use in diesel engines? Do you know of one that is and works well? Lastly, what indicates that the rods have been compromised by carbon chunks. Will the engine develop bottom end noise?

[This message has been edited by JDEN (edited 05-18-99).]