I've been constantly discarding useless devices when they fail and saving lots of money on repairs and maintenance. Thought that some of my discoveries might prove useful to others.

So far I've boned central locking systems and plugged vacuum lines; replaced electric window motors with manual crank mechanism, discarded worthless cruise control, chopped the screwy alternator belt adjust bracket. Have even drilled a small 1/16" hole in top of the oil separator to relieve pressure so the hoses dont leak. Another discovery of mine is brass Mitsubishi radiator exactly replaces the crummy plastic MB unit, even leaving room for the air cooler. Sorry, but I've got no patience for alot of the over-engineered garbage that ends up in an otherwise excellent automobile.

What I'm wondering now is what about the EGR? What does it do and can the car run better without it? And I'd really like to discard the network of vacuum hoses attached to it. Aint no such thing as EGR on my '79 240D and I'm wondering if the '83 would be a better car without it.

There have been a number of great threads about this very topic, from which I have learned a LOT!!

Here's a good one:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=140290&highlight=EGR

Nothing but good things can come from removing the EGR. Better performance, better MPG, longer engine life, no intake butterfly...

Did you remove the intake butterfly? I have the EGR blocked on my 240D, but it still has the butterfly. Any performance gain by removing it?

I retrofitted early manifolds on my '82 and got rid of that rat's nest of garbage. The car runs just fine. I don't know if it improved performance as I never ran it the "stock" way.

Rick

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

Anything in the airflow path is not helping. Changing to an older manifold or removing the butterfly flap (Should be held on the shaft with screws) will fix it.

Thanks, that sounds like excellent advice. I will replace the EGR/intake manifold gasket with steel plate, pull the vacuum lines, plug the sensors and put an end to exhaust emissions being routed back into the engine. Also minimalizing linkage and discarding what's left of the vacuum rats nest on top of the valve cover. Expecting better performance, less liklihood of carbon fouling. And yeah my '79 fully operative parts car has NO butterfly valve, so will pull the one on the '83 when installing the plate.

I want to keep the '83 manifolds just to have the oil separator. Even at 250k miles on the '83 compared with 179k on the '79, the '83 car uses noticably less oil. Difference of several hundred miles per quart - like about 2000 compared with 1500 miles per quart.

I just removed the butterfly flap and the associated linkage from the 240D (I left the shaft through the "throttle body" because I didn't want to leave a hole). I didn't notice a lot of difference in performance, but every little bit helps.