are K&N filters really that bad? i get alot better milage. i think this was on some other thread, but as usual we failed to meet a consensus.

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1991 300 D 2.5 Turbo, 220k
also in the family:
1981 240 D 185k
1991 350 SD 185k
2006 S 500
2005 SLK 350

They are great for flowing air, I use one on my road/drag racer, but they will allow more dirt in. As pointed out above, allowing dirt into the engine will shorten it's life. K&N filters are documented as performing as I described.,

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'83 240D with 617.952 and 2.88
'01 VW Beetle TDI
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD
'89 Toyota 4x4, needs 2L-T
'78 280Z with L28ET - 12.86@110
Oil Burner Kartel #35

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b1...oD/bioclip.jpg

I would be surprised if you get better mileage with a K&N rather than the stock filter.

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Tony from West Oz.
Fatmobile 3 84 300D 295kkm Silver grey/Blue int. 2 tank WVO - Recipient of TurboDesel engine.
Josephine '82 300D 390kkm White/Palamino int.
Elizabeth '81 280E, sporting a '79 300D engine.
Lucille '87 W124 300D non-turbo 6 cylinder OM603, Pearl Grey with light grey interior


Various parts cars including 280E, 230C & 300D in various states of disassembly.

allow motor mounts to wear enough to let accessory belt to saw oil cooler line

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Rob M
Norwich, VT USA
1980 240D Euro delivery 4 speed manual silver/blue
~160K miles

1,000,000 miles

Not being a menber of MercedesShop with all the knowledgeable fine folks could possibly kill one in short order...

Makes me think of a seller telling me he had done perfect maintenence on the car himself. When I ask to look under the hood he didn't know how to open it right away.

That is funny.
Amazing how silly some people are.

I am afraid that the opposite of this may be nearer the truth in many cases. Just enough knowledge to be dangerous is dangerous. Many well intentioned owners do as much damage as good, OOPS. Same can be said of many "mechanics".

This one should be good for enrollment in the TwitchKitty fan club.

I see that you are on quite the roll again.

That fan club is going to get too large for an auditorium.

BTW, I'll wager that this forum has helped 10X as many folks fix the vehicle correctly versus how many have performed a repair using the advice of the forum and screwed it up to the point of damage.

at least 1 MPG more highway, based on my observations

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1991 300 D 2.5 Turbo, 220k
also in the family:
1981 240 D 185k
1991 350 SD 185k
2006 S 500
2005 SLK 350

The notion that a lot of "around town" driving and lack of highway driving is harmful to a diesel is an interesting paradox. I've ridden in MANY diesel taxis in southeast Asia - some MB, some not. Many of them see heavy city duty - and that includes long periods of idleing, lots of stop and go traffic in the city, and rare highway jaunts. Yet so many of these taxis have well over 400,000 kilometers (250,000 miles) on the clock and run amazingly well.

I was in a W124 250D taxi with approximately 500,000KM on the original motor and transmission - no rebuilds. The driver said that the car sees the highway maybe once a week, and is mostly putting around the city, running for 10 hours a day or more. Yet it idled and ran so smoothly and quietly, and did not smoke - no black film on the rear of the car either. Overall it appeared that the car was in excellent running condition.

Much of the caution about city driving is not just slow driving, but short trips - trips where the engine never really reaches optimal temperature and even if it does, doesn;t remain there long enought to burn out all of the combustion by-products in the engine and condensat in the oil. There is no question that city driving/idling will carbon up an engine, but with small diesels, once they achieve operating temerature, revving them up to 3500-4500 as they accelerate (the ONLY way a small hp diesel can keep up with most traffic flow) will keep them pretty clean. It's when you put a more powerful diesel (one that is seldom required to rev over 2000 rpm to keep up in city traffic) into a city only situation that problems occur. My 201.122 190D 2.0 thrives in the city (if driven longer than 15-20 minutes per trip) while my 124.193 300TD and 201.128 190D 2.5 turbo will quickly choke up if I don't blow them out on the highway every few drives. In the case of a more powerful (more than 80-90 hp) Mercedes diesels with automatic transmissions I recommend that the shift lever be left in 3rd and not drive until traffic speeds exceed about 40-45 mph. That WILL keep the engine a bit cleaner by forcing the engine to rev a bit higher (and usually fuel economy will slightly improve) but if they don't stay at operating temperature for more than 15-20 minutes, the engine WILL get much dirtier, much faster..

Marshall

Excellent point Marshall. Diesel taxis are typically small displacement (200D, 220D, and 250D for example, in the W124 chassis) and manual tranny too, so they probably get a good share of revving that prevents them from getting carboned up.

Since school is out for the summer I don't commute anymore so my SDL has been doing short around town trips. It hates them 2k rpm is all that is needed to go along with traffic so the turbo never even really spools up. I usually take it for an Italian tune up on the highway once or twice a week to blow her out.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200