Hello,

First, I have great respect for everyone who makes this discussion forum what it is - thank you all.

My car is a 1985 300d and I have been getting a soot patch on the driveway recently as well. The car starts immediately even when it's 20 degrees f outside, and the glow plugs are new and injectors were recenlty replaced with Bosch rebuilds. (now that I think of it, this did begin sometime after the injectors were replaced). The car burns no oil between 3k changes and doesn't smoke and fuel mileage hasn't changed. Also, this started before I began messing with the ALDA.
The soot comes out of the exhaust about 1-2 minutes after starting the car, it idles fine, hmmmmmm..... Could be leaky valve seals Ifso, wouldn't it smoke initially? This is leaving patches on the concrete and they aint' easy to clean!
Thanks for any help in advance.
Happy benz'n. Adam