rickjordan,

I do not think superficial rust will inspire the inspector to fail you. When I lived in Germany and you had your every other year TUV inspection, visible rust brought out the screwdriver that the inspector used to poke holes with - any holes equalled a failure. In CT if the car looks reasonably well maintained I do not think you will have any problems. A little surface rust will not cause a serious issue as long as the rest of the car looks good and the blinkers, brakes, emergency brake and so on are in good working order. My last two experiences were very superficial, one on a car from Maryland, and the other a Euro 190E 2.3-16 from California. The inspector never inspected the underside of either car. If it is clean, waxed, and all the stuff works so the car is safe, it should not be a problem.

The Delvac 1 cleaned up the black smoke I used to get at idle or under heavy throttle. I drove behind the car recently (daughter was driving and she revs the engine to near red line in every gear) while getting a Christmas tree and I swear, even in dusk with my headlights shining on the back of the car (I was driving behind it as I was not sure if the tree hanging out was Kosher and did not want to involve other innocents if it came out as she raced the car around - it didn't as we had it tied to the car pretty good) there was no smoke or smell to detect.

Good luck, Jim

__________________
Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)