Finally took this off on the the 98 to take a peek. A bit of blackness around the #6 injector well, but otherwise looked fine. I cleaned up the well and will keep an eye on it.

JayBob, your post answered a question I had: Is this cover merely decorative? But I gather it has some sort of protective function as well.

Would it be safe to spray brake cleaner in this area to clean things up? Or is that a bad idea?

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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 159k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 179k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 145k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 77k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife