Non-turbos have ALDAs, and if seriously out of adjustment, will restrict fuel delivery.

Oil bath air cleaner are better than paper by far, but also much messier and get plugged -- a mouse made a nest in the intake horn on my 220D during one of it's "rest" periods -- no way air was going through all that crud!

They work by sucking the air through a puddle of oil, then filtering the oil mist out with a steel mesh (looks like a giant scrub pad). They get clogged with dirt, the oil gets thick, and they are more succeptible to leaves and such blocking the air passages in the oil bath.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!