Good Rainy Day Morning,

I have had my 1984 190d for over five years and I haven't noticed any rust on the muffler, or exhaust pipes. I had a 1985 Volov 240GL, and I replaced the pipes or muffler probably every three years. Is there something about diesel's that prevents rust?

Hugh Sr.

Yes, You never see water dripping out the tail pipe of a diesel vehicle as you sometimes do with a gasser.

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

I dunno... I had to replace the exhaust on my '96 VW TDI because it was so severely rusted, it actually broke apart into 3 separate sections after going over a speed bump.

Our '97 E300 is also due for a new exhaust. The muffler is rusted through and has broken off from the pipe leading into it. I have it "rigged" using some repair sections from autozone for now...

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'98 E300 turbodiesel

I have noticed the same thing, my diesels never seem to need exhaust work, in fact I have removed very nice, original exhaust systems from a few parts cars that had the star on the muffler.

Looks like to me that if you don't live somewhere where they use salt on the road in the winter, your exhaust will last a very long time.

Cars w/catalytic converters do spew out more water that non catalyst cars. It's the water that causes the rust out.

Gassers, even the pre 1975 ones also spew out water, while the diesel does not.

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RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

99 W210 E300 Turbo Diesel, chipped, DPF/Converter Delete. Still needs EGR Delete, 232K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

Gone and still missed...1982 w123 300D, 1991 w124 300D

The only part of the exhaust system I've had to replace (except donuts) on any of my 240Ds was the section that bolts to the manifold, .

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

In MI the salt eats at the exhaust, but even so, a diesel exhaust lasts quite a long while.

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-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)

Mine has a lot of rust, but I guess it came from all of the road salt used it PA.

Same with the mini impact bumps on the front of the car.


The pain of living in the north

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-Typos courtesy of my mobile phone.

While road salt contributes to an exhaust system rusting, the main cause is the way a car is driven. If you frequently drive short distances, your (the car's) exhaust system is going to rust much faster than if the car were to be driven longer distances. A longer drive assures that all the condensation inside the system is dissapated and the system is left dry. Have you ever noticed the water coming out the tail just after start up?

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Don't Chrome them; polish them

Water is a product of combustion of either gasoline or diesel fuel. The key to not having your exhaust system rust away is not driving short distances where the vapor condenses and sits in the cold muffler after shutdown. If you drive long enough to warm the engine (15+ minutes) you will get most of the water that collects when it first starts up to evaporate and greatly reduce the tendency for the exhaust system to rust.

The middle pipe on my E300 broke off of the muffler from rust and I found a shop who fabbed a new one and welded it back good as new since everything else in the system was pretty sound.

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

I recently replaced the muffler on my 84 and it was the original. I could tell becuase it was one piece from tailpipe to downpipe. It rusted at a seam from the inside. The resonator (middle muffler) is stainless steel and is not rusted.

In the late 70's I had a Honda Civic and my drive to work was only about five miles. So the car never go fullly warmed up in the winter. I went through I believe 4 or 5 mufflers on that car. After the first replacement, I went to Midas and all of the mufflers after that were free.

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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

I almost posted a similar story in this thread earlier today. This reminds me of my Grandfather's 1973 Cadillac, Coupe DeVille, affectionately known as "Green Acres". Now that I have time, here goes.

For the past 25 years, Grandpa never drove further than a few miles from his house, and eventually quit driving on the freeway altogether. I've watched from behind his car when he started it and seen water spray out of his exhaust pipe as soon as soon as it started. I figure the water had to be puddling in his muffler between trips, to do that. When his first muffler wore out, he took the car to Midas for a new one.

Every 2 years or so they installed another one for him, for free. Actually, come to think about it they eventually replaced every part in the system, except the manifold, so they probably ended up giving him several free resonators as well. We figure they lost a few bucks betting on him. He drove till he was 97. Once he found a very good independent garage, he wouldn't let anyone else work on his car, so all Midas got to do was replace the Muffler. Grandpa would have been happy to let his mechanic replace the muffler, but the mechanic told him to keep taking it to Midas.

This was in So. California, and grandpa never drove in the rain, so they could only be rusting from the inside out.

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1979 240D, 4spd manual, Power Sunroof, manual windows, 147k miles, Pastel gray/Black MB Tex.
1991 300D 2.5 - Smokes like it's on Crack!

pretty interesting story, but the obvious question is...










....green acres??????

Where do you live.
Salted winter roads will eventually eat all exposed metal

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1981 240D 143k 4 spd manual -SOLD

2004 VW Jetta TDI 5 speed 300k -still driven daily

I just replaced mine on the '83 from original with OEM replacement.

I should be good for quite a while.

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85' 300D No inspection, No registration fees, Cheap insurance
"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious %$&^."