Piotr:

Oh, yes, you can over-rev a diesel. You will poke a rod out the side of the block when the crank bearing cap doesn't make the trip down on the intake stroke intact -- the next round on the crank shoves it out the side. Terrible thing to do to a good engine.

Fortunately, this only happens if you regularly wind them up for long periods of time. I'd not run at redline for hours on end, it certainly reduces the life of the engine. Remember, MB usually provides three or four over/under sizes for everything -- Germans burn the engines up pretty fast. You can get pistons in honing sizes, for instance, believe it or not -- hone a couple hundredths of a millimeter over and put new pistons in!

Keep the rev counter under 4000 except when passing and you will be fine!

Peter

__________________
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!