Thank all of you for the replies!

So, I passed the info on to the techs working on the e300, including everything I could dig up on the board about the codes. So they pulled the air intake to check the egr to air intake area and "found the problem." The conversation went like this...

"Someone had stuffed a rag in your intake before the butterfly valve."
"A rag?"
"Yes, like a wadded up rag."
"Like a... a shop rag?"
"Yes, like a wad of paper towel..."
"Well... What the h*ll would they do that for?"
"We don't know, maybe they forgot it in there. We pulled it out, cleared the codes, drove it 14 miles and the code hasn't come back. We took pictures for you."

So I have 2 pictures of a wad of paper towels that rode around stuffed in my air intake for at least the last 600-700 miles....

So.... (Stop laughing!) Seriously, why would anyone shove a (clean) ball of paper towels up an e300's air intake?

Thoughts?