You have proven nothing, I'm sorry that we disagree.

I'm not calling you a liar, just asking for links, documents, anything that would support the claim that Mercedes determined that max. RPM was a factor on the 4800rpm .970, didn't change the RPM, until later when they RAISED the RPM without problems.

My point is simply that there are several theories on this very thread, and those that preceeded it, from timing and Cetane, to engine RPM, to Tom's theory of hydrolocking that has its merit, and nothing has been posted yet to prove any of them. Your RPM theory can't possibly be valid since the RPM was reduced before the engine was released to production, despite your claim that it was reduced after 18months of production in the .971 version.

It would be nice to further explore possibilities, find real data that can be referenced and traced to a verifiable piece of research or paper.

I'm not entirely sure that Mercedes ever found the answer, they revised the cylinder head 4 times, the head gasket once, and the rods 5 times according to the EPC on the '91 SDL. The head revisions ran from the original #17 to #22 after the W140 was produced, not before, and the only explanation in the FSM is strengthening water jacket areas.

I apologize if you find my determination to follow only documentable leads offensive, I don't mean it to be. However, seeing the contradictions between the theories and the FSM makes it a bit hard to hang one's hat on the theories.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff