Can't find the noise problem (Think I found it)
 

1980 300sd

I have a raspy open header kind of noise that I can not isolate.

I bought the car, it had not run in three years, it was parked because it started smoking. I was ale to get it started, it blew a lot of soot and black smoke and had a nasty noise.

I have cracked each of the injectors to bleed off any air. I adjusted the valves, all were a little tight. I checked the turbo by keeping it from turning with the engine running, noise did not go away. When I had they valve cover off, the chain seemed to have a lot of slack, but I do not know what is normal.

The car starts right up every time, it just has a terrible noise.

Any ideas where to go from here?

down pipe at the flex point??

how bout leaky EGR stainless steel accordion pipe?

I could not see or feel an exhaust leak. Would the EGR have a noticeable leak?

One of the ring clamps for EGR accordion pipe leaked on 240D that i used to own and it wasnt so obvious either. What exactly d'ye mean by "raspy header noise?" Heck could even be dirty air cleaner, but you probly changed that already. And if its most noticable inside the car then could be leaky vac solenoid behind the dash - but that would probly effect other vac systems like shutdown too.

Bought 1980 300SD myself a few months ago and something else you wanna do is clean out the ALDA vacuum line banjo bolt fitting at firewall end of intake manifold. It gets fouled and robs performance. Made world of difference on mine. Good luck, there aint alot of 116 300SD's out there and its considered one of the best among classic car fans.

300SDog

It sounds like a rattle combined with an exhaust leak, it was loud enough for a neighbor to come over and see what all the noise was, he was inside his house.

I pulled the turbo off today, I have two fins on the exhaust side that have a small notch out of them, they are opposing fins, is this normal for balancing? The turbo spins freely, I do have some slop up and down, in and out is snug. I also noticed some oil in the intake manifold, not a lot just some residue.

On another note, how in the world do you remove the air conditioning compressor belt? I was going to see if maybe the compressor was making the noise.

I took my turbo apart with help from other treads, this site is awesome!

My exhaust fins look like a rat was chewing on them, and I have two cracks on the flange.