ezrider.

I replaced one of these in the past due to a leak ... I got all six just in case. Not sure why the idle is affected, but if you do a search you will find all sorts of odd stories of weird hammering effects ... seems there are three parts that are replaceable ... I replaced two of the three.

There is a compression spring (did not replace), a copper seal, and an o ring - I replaced these two. It fixed my leak.

I gotta tell ya that the 350SDL I have is a sweet running engine with an occasional weird thing or two happening. One is that it is rough at idle (not always) and once in awhile it spits a bunch of smoke (can't tell if black or grey) while cruising at 80mph or so. I use injector cleaner (85+) a bit each tank and a good cleaning with a can about once every six months ... it burns no oil, is suitably fast for its vintage on diesel and is way comfortable.

All this said, I also wonder when it is displaying signs of spitting its guts out ... it appears from all the info available, to be the worst engine MB has ever built ... what a shame. However, I may stick with mine, drive it for as long as it works and replace the engine ... it is far less troublesome than the 140s (at least according to the web information available) and far easier and less complex to work on for the average guy.

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George Stephenson
1991 350 SDL (200K and she ain't bent, yet)
former 2002 E320 4Matic Wagon - good car
former 1985 300 CD - great car
former 1981 300 TD - good car
former 1972 280 SEL - not so good car
a couple of those diesel Rabbits ...40-45 mpg