Try another dealer. I have a 1987 300tdt wagon that still had the trap oxidizer on it. I took it to the dealer to find out what could be done. They said they would honor the recall from MB. Long story short when they ran my vin they found where the trap had been replaced already. The only explanation they/ I can come up with is that somewhere down the line that engine must have gone out and someone swapped in a used engine with the Ox in place, but here is the strange part, the exhaust and some other pieces had been switched over to work with the new system. Kind of a cluster fudge. I found a 300tdt that had the new parts on it in the junk yard and switched it out myself.
It will be worth your time and money to chase this down and have it covered under their campaign.
Good Luck.

__________________
If it ain't broke take it apart and find out why.

1983 300SD, 4 speed
1994 C280
1987 300TD wagon
1996 HD Road King

Ride in Peace Eric Peterson, Harley of Macon

Well then you pay them. If they also bill Mercedes I will leave in the air. Mercedes will not pay a dealer the amount of money for the job they can extract from you either. Probably very little in comparison. We have at least one member that was turned down at one dealer. Approached another and it was done free.

I would say searching the archives on this part may give some dates. Also the poster should try to get a copy of that 1996 letter. It may make it happen.

I am also almost positive many have been done free since 96. If by any chance granny was the first owner why did she not receive a letter? In todays society you are expected to buy what you are told. All you may need is the letter and find the last member that had this done free. Also do a litttle research as this whatever it is was open ended since implementation. My memory is not flawless and I do remember there was government involvement I still believe. I could be wrong as well though about that part.

OP, Whatever became of your situation with this Trap Oxidizer? Curious minds, me mostly, want to know. Were you able to get the dealer to honor your the recall, or are you still pursuing it?

__________________
*1985 300CD, 214K miles, Pearl Black/Palomino MB Tex-Stuck in FL
*1985 300D, Smoke Silver/Palomino MB Tex, 280K miles--Dad's car--Sold May 2015
*2014 VW Jetta SportWagen TDI Premium Pkg, Platnium Grey w/Black VW Tex- Dad's new car- 55k
*2017 Chevy Cruze LT Diesel, Silver w/Black leather, 26k miles, brother's new car
*2017 Chevy Silverado 1500 Z71 Crew Cab, Pepperdust w/Black leather, 15k miles, my new ride

I had a beater 87 Wagon which had the entire exhaust system replaced in 2006 under this program. It surprised the hell out of me that MB would do this, I expect the dealer would be paid quite a bit by MB to do all this so for them it would be easy money. Cheers

__________________
It's always something simple
91 300D 603.960 (from japan) 194K
92 Toyota Diesel Landcruiser HDJ81-t 116K
02 Golf TDI new head courtesy of PO
87 300D
97 BMW 525 TDS Wagon 5spd
bunch of Onan and other diesel generators

Fee for doing it by Mercedes to dealers may be very low perhaps. The fee is fixed for labour and parts supplied by Mercedes would have no profit margin.

Or at least this is what I would expect to be the issue at dealers. The labour rate paid by Mercedes may be one set a very long time ago for this particular job. These are just possibilities of course. Once again I have heard this particular problem was or had the government involved in some way.

You might consider calling the classic centre and/or any government department that may have been involved in this.

Good news! I did get them to honor this program. It did take quite a few calls to MBUSA, but in the end they were fantastic to deal with given the age of this item. It took a while for them to get the parts in from Germany, but i got it back from the dealer about 2 weeks ago. I have to say there is a huge difference in power output and smoothness of the power curve post replacement. I guess I now need to remove the unnecessary components now that the trap is gone. Can anyone point me to a how to for this? I saw it at some point but cant find it now.

Going to take it in to get the ACC looked at as it stopped doing anything the other day, could be the PBU?

G

Make sure you have them check the turbo. My grandfather had the recall done but the T/O already started to break apart and bits fell in the turbo. Needless to say, no one looked at the turbo and it stopped working.

That is awesome news about the trap ox.

Now on to your ACC. I have been through this with my wagon.

First things to check:
Fuse 7 controls everything with the ACC except the actual power to the blower.
The system needs vacuum which comes from a tap on top of the vacuum pump. This is how the system moves the air direction doors behind the dash.
If you don't have either of those it goes into safe mode - defrost, max heat, max blower.
Check your fuse 7 to make certain it is good. I had an old fuse that was micro cracked and it looked good but it wasn't passing.
Also check your vacuum line. Easiest thing to do is remove the glove box liner and look to your left. There is a thing that looks like a harmonica with 8 hoses coming out of it. That is your vacuum valve assembly. Pull off the green hose on the end, that is the supply from the vacuum pump. Put your finger on the end of the hose and see if it is sucking with the engine running.

I wonder if your vacuum hose got knocked off, or fractured because they are brittle after 30 years of baking under the hood. I had to replace all my vacuum hoses under the hood because of this. You'll need about 6 meters or so of hose to replace all the lines. Just do them 1 at a time and you'll be fine.

Tip: the hose now only comes in white. I would invest in a rainbow pack of Sharpies, and color code at least the ends of the replacement hoses to match.

Beyond that the next best thing to do is go to w124-zone.com, register, and download the service manuals. Chapter 83 is the ACC system.

__________________
The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech

I believe the dealer is expected to check the turbo on these during the fix. Plus replace it if damaged. It was nice to hear they took care of it. In general though I do expect mercededs can never discontinue repairing these free of charge.

I do not know exactly how the government is involved or was involved but there was an understanding that the program could never end. I never heard of a situation like this with a car manufacturer before. Yet again I lead a sheltered life so there may be others.

If it is a "recall" then it is my understanding that it is expected to be honored by the dealer no matter the age, mileage, or time elapsed since issuance, per the law.

__________________
The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech