Right, Peter; I used to have to really lean on the stop lever on my 79 300SD to get it to shut the beast down.

I'm off to suck tubes. I'll report progress.

Sorry, but what's an ALDA? And an IP? I can locate these from the description, but I'm curious.

I have observed that the shut-off valve seems to last about 100k mls, and the belt, tensioner and pulley mechanisms about the same (my 91 300D 2.5 Tbo has 110K miles) on these great cars. I'm observing, not complaining.

Do the newer Diesels shut down electronically rather than by vacuum-servo?

Thanks, Simon