"Other than your inspection shop, who said anything about removing the fan? "

The Mercedes 602/603 diesel engine manual. Their recommendations in section 13-342 says to take off the shroud and remove the fan. This may be more necessary in the 124 cars. All I was trying to suggest is that it is possible without removing the fan.

In my case, I'm sure this inspection station and the 25 year old inspector had never seen a 300SD (140) and went by some time/scale guide which included the fan removal and jacked up the cost.