Friends,

I disconnected the monovalve assembly yesterday to check the diaphragm, as suggested by helpful readers in this forum. It was indeed cracked, and hopefully will be the answer to my problems with heat. I ordered the replacement kit from Phil.

1. There is picture of me holding up the assembly below. The picture shows as far as I can get the thing out, by hand. Then it's stuck. Is it OK to get a screwdriver edge in under the wavy washer and pry it out? Will I break anything? Should I coat the new piece with some white lithium grease before I put it back in?

2. Also, I noticed the top of the air filter had gotten much, much dirtier with oily gunk accumulating around the top of the hose connection. Another picture below. This area was relatively 'clean' the last time I looked (probably a few weeks ago). There was even some white plumbing tape keeping the hose connection on, that was clearly visible as white. So some sort of blowback is coming from the top of the engine cover. Cause for concern?

3. When I bought the car, it already had a K&N 'cleanable' filter installed. But I was on the phone with Phil and he said he thought you should never use these in diesels - only replaceable filters. Fortunately, I had one. But has anybody heard of this before?

Thanks in advance

Attached Thumbnails

   

1-Don't know, never done it

2-All diesels have blowby, the crank case is always under pressure of some sort. If it's leaking you can order a 1-piece new-style connection that is less likely to leak, or you can rig up a road draft tube.

3-K&N are crap for any engine. I only run one on my motorcycle because:
A.It's a nearly shot engine
B.Keeps the bugs out of the carbs

Keep up the good work on the ol' girl. You might want to check the condition of the ring seals between teh air filter housing and the turbo(2 seals) They are a common leak area

__________________
$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

1) Don't pry under the wave washer.........or you might damage the wave washer. Just get a set of channel locks and grap the end of the monovalve diaphragm and pull. You're tossing that entire piece in the trash anyway so, don't worry about damaging that.

i had the same problem with my monovalve and had to bang it out with a screwdriver and hammer from the other side. i would not pry it out as you could damage the washers which you will need if/when you replace it. keep in mind that i only treated the monovalve that way because i already had a replacement kit ready to go. don't bang it out without one as it will mess it up, a lot. and, i wouldn't grease it up, the reason mine was stuck so badly was because my system needs a flush really badly. the orange-ish brown crud floating around in there made the monovalve stick. grease won't help that and probably shouldn't be added into the system, no matter how little.

__________________
1985 300D - 1984 Euro 280E AMG Clone (SOLD) - 1978 280CE (SOLD) - 1983 300D (SOLD) - 1981 300D (SOLD)

Pull out the diaphragm of your monovalve like Brian said and you should be fine. these things can get kinda stubborn when old! As far as the K&N filter, the biggest reason most don't like them and claim they pass more dirt through the intake is because they require more frequent manintenance than what you read in the directions! You don't have to worry about sensors in the intake tract going waywire because of oil vapors from the filter, the 617.95 doesn't have any.

I prefer the K&N to a regular paper filter because we get severe dust storms here in the desert and a properly serviced and modified K&N will out run paper filters in life expectancy and perfomance hands down while maintaining good fuel economy! What I did to my filter housing was to plug up the small oil drain hole in the bottom and install a rubber bushing larger than the factory one in the lower end to keep the ait filter chamber somewhat level. Then I installed a foam pre-filter element around the K&N and oiled it really well. This is now an oil bath filter assembly where a small puddle of oil (marvel's mystery oil is good for this) is now desireable and all the incoming air is blowing small bubbles in the filter and the foam pad is acting as a wick.

Oddly enough, I know that some Marvel's Mystery Oil IS getting into the motor because I have to refresh the amount every few hundred miles and the last ime I had my intake off, those valves looked good! A side effect I didn't plan on is that Marvels helps keep carbon buildup from forming! My intake tract has always been pretty clean even when the filter was caked in fine desert dust!

I'm a believer in the K&N filter, but honestly, they are a bit lacking without the mods in my opinion. Someday I will take pics of my setup and post them here.

New wave washer comes with Phil's kit.

Not sure about diesels but K&N is not a good idea on fuel injected Benz engines because of the possibility of gunking up the air metering plate with the K&N oil.

I do use K&N on my Dodge pickup and airhead BMW cycle.

K&N filters are far inferior in terms of what they filter out. Silicates and dirt can get in much easier and at a much higher micron size. = wear on engine

End result: Dumb to use them on ANY engine.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

This leads to the Thread I started concerning Washing K&N air filters. The controversy ranged from a scientific test showing that K&N Air Filters allow a lot of stuff to pass through them to a Mechanic who did a lot of work for people who owned "Sand Buggies" and said that they worked.
My experience with a new K&N that replaces the stock Filter Element on my Federal 300D is that after being in the Car and not being cleaned or the oil renewed on it for 10 months of city driving was that I found nothing gritty behind the Filter Element inside of the Air Cleaner Housing. Not even anything sticking to the Oil residue from the blow by that is inside part of the Air Filter housing.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=212563&highlight=MAF

I do have plans in the future to work up a filter using Polyester Felt Filter Bag Material; because it is washable. I would most likely leave the K&N in place and hook the other filter to the end of the Air Filter.

Also most companies do not say what Micron level their filter will filter out. The few that I have seen that give this infor have them in the 15 Nominal Micron range.

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I am looking forward to seeing those pictures of your mods. The PO had a K&N in my 84 and I have not changed it. I'd like to see what you did.

__________________
85 300D 75K Anthracite Grey 0-60 in 13 seconds **For Sale**
84 300D 333K Black (The Velveteen Rabbit) 0-60 in 14 seconds
00 Toyota Sienna 208K (Sold)
15 Subaru Outback 43K
11 Subaru Outback 67K
98 Ford Taurus 100K (Gertie - Was Grandma's - drove it to church and shopping - really) Daughter's car now.
30 Model A Ford 2 Door Sedan (Sold) 0-60 in . . . Never reached 60

If you need a wavy washer, they are available at most hardware stores, but new mono valves come with it.
As S=B mentioned, get a new flat hose.
There is a ongoing debate about air filters.

__________________
83 SD

84 CD