`my car has 288 k on it and its an 87 300 sdl and i noticed there was a cat converter on the exhaust under the car, i figured since the car had so many miles on it and i dont see y it would be there in the first place i am going to remove it and replace it with a straight pipe, do u think my turbo will spool up faster? i was also wondering if there is anything i can do for basicly free to make my car run better or get an extra psi or 2 out of the turbo or get it to spool up faster

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1985 mercedes benz 300D turbo diesel
1998 VW GTI VR6
1996 VW GTI 2.0
1999 saab 9-3 turbo
1987 300sdl (sold)

I think he might actually be seeing one. Believe it or not, mine's got one on it. Can't wait to strip that ***** offa there and sell it for huge ducats on eBay!

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1998 E300 +310,000K
1996 E300 +460,000K

The first rat in the snake, so to speak, on an OM603's exhaust system is the oxidation cat. This was the replacement for the trap oxidiser.

Our old 87 300TD had it installed when the trap was removed per the recall years ago.

It eventually plugged up, and I rodded the matrix out of it after removing the pipe from the car.

The wagon ran a bit better afterwards, and you could hear the turbo spool up a bit more. By leaving the unit in place but opened up, it physically appears to be in place during any kind of state inspection.....

There is a tap near #1 cyl exhaust where you can measure backpressure. I verified what I was seeing by dropping the exhaust just downstream of the turbo. Car went from a slug to a rocket, vindicating the high backpressure i was seeing on the gage.

Car had been running quite well, but turned into a soot spewing slug in a few days. As I said, removal of the offending item took care of any problems!

Jim

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14 E250 BlueTEC black. 45k miles
95 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 66k miles
94 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 152k miles
85 300TD 4 spd man, euro bumpers and lights, 15" Pentas dark blue 274k miles