I have my intake off right now and I can clearly see that the head is gummed up real good with carbon, soot, and who knows what else. I doubt it's effecting the performance of the car and I think I will probably just knock crud into my cylinders if I try to clean it so I was thinking of just leaving it alone. Is that a good assessment or do I need to get this stuff out of the head?

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1987 300SDL 167k
1992 Volvo 740 140k
1990 Volvo 740 250k
1989 Volvo 240 269k

Anyone want to trade an old Volvo for an '87 300sdl?

Italian tuneup?

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82 300D....went to MB heaven
90 350 SDL....excercising con rods

Depends on how thick it is.....

thats why we disble the EGR for cough...cough..... test purposes. To prevent it from getting worse...cleaning it isn't easy...adn an Italian tune up will do nothing at all for this.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

It's really thick, maybe 1/4". I read in some other posts that it doesn't have any effect on performance. I find that a little hard to believe, why would MB have made the intake holes larger than they needed to be? Any ideas on cleaning it out?

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1987 300SDL 167k
1992 Volvo 740 140k
1990 Volvo 740 250k
1989 Volvo 240 269k

Anyone want to trade an old Volvo for an '87 300sdl?

only way to clean it is by removing it....lost of solvent adn elbow grease....or maybe a shop with a solvent tank...you can't hot tank his like an engine block becasue its aluminum and the hot tank uses highly casutic cleaners that will eat aluminum.

I would say 1/4" is a fair amount...my W123 had somewhat less than that....I have heard of others with far more...

I doub't it will make a noticible difference but what harm will it do to clean it out? Assuming you do it correctly.

Bottle cleaner brushes (round brushes) are whats needed...

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

To clean out the ports try using a shop vac with one of those long trumpet funnels.
Stick the hose in the large end of the funnel and it looks like an anteater, works like one too.
Also get a ¼ inch length of copper tubing flatten out the first few inches. Bend the flattened end at a 90 degree angle about 1/8 to 3/16. It looks like a small garden hoe. You might want to file a slight radius on the edge to contore to the port.
Scrape away while vacuuming. Works great!!!

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2003 SLK 230 (85000)
1999 E300 Turbo Diesel (388,000)
1991 350SD Turbo Diesel (185,000)

I left that crud alone I didn't want to risk something dropping into the cylinder or damaging a valve. Just block the egr clean out the manifold and that stuff will go away on its own.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Try adding a quart of cheap Tranny fluid to the crankcase just before the next oil cx. Run it in there for 15 minutes and change....It will help clean out alot of soot and blak color...

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'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

can't see how that will do anything this is in the intake...its thicker than petrified axel grease...and real resistant to cleaning....al it sees is mist that gets past the oil seperator adn 1/4 of this stuff isn't going away on its own....

True I doubt it will help much....but I did go through th etrouble of swapping mine out for a clean pre-egr intake as I didn't have time to clean mine....and it was off already when I was putting in a block heater.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I don't have the head off and I don't have a reason to remove it so I really like this idea. I have a feeling this car saw alot of short trips, it was owned by an old man and stored most of the time. I bet the catalytic converter is clogged damn near solid (diesel's have cat's right?).

__________________
1987 300SDL 167k
1992 Volvo 740 140k
1990 Volvo 740 250k
1989 Volvo 240 269k

Anyone want to trade an old Volvo for an '87 300sdl?

i dont think so.. i didnt see one on my 85 when i looked under it. just a frign huge muffler

Nope, no catalytic converters on these diesels! You actually can't use cats when there is sulfur or lead in the fuel, and diesel has sulfur in it. With the upcoming Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel and Biodiesel fuel movements and regulations, manufacturers may start using cats, but for now, its just clear pipe.

peace,
sam

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"That f***in' biodiesel is makin' me hungry."

1982 300TD Astral Silver w/ 250k (BIO BNZ)
2001 Aprilia SR50 Corsa Red w/ 5.5k (>100 MPG)

Well I guess that's one more trick I won't be using to get the car moving a little faster, I was counting on having a clogged cat with lots of back pressure!

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1987 300SDL 167k
1992 Volvo 740 140k
1990 Volvo 740 250k
1989 Volvo 240 269k

Anyone want to trade an old Volvo for an '87 300sdl?