Cross-over pipe cleaning

[loubapache]

Today I took out the cross-over pipe on the 87 300TD.

It looked pretty bad, all the way from the turbo outlet to the intake manifold. I did not take out the intake manifold so I only cleaned the cross-over pipe.

I do not know if the cleaning will do anything as the crud is not blocking anything. Just looks bad.

What I am really interested is if the crud will come back after some time. I do have the EGR disabled so, in theory, it should not come back. Will pull it again next summer just to see.

The tailgate is not holding itself in the open position. I assume the struts are tired. Are there one or two on the wagon? Thanks.

[rickjordan]

As for your tailgate struts, there are 2. They are mounted in the top corners of the tailgate, horizontally. They actually go into the roof. I own a W123 wagon and believe they are set up the same way. Don't know what they cost to replace. The previous owner of my wagon, had them replaced at a dealership $$$$$.

[loubapache]

rickjordan:

Thanks.

I see the struts for about $30 - 40 a piece. Does not look hard to replace at all from my chassis manual.

[rickjordan]

As I mentioned, the previous owner of my wagon had it done for him. It seems pretty straight forward. Remove some trim pieces, unbolt the struts, definetly have someone holding up the tailgate for you. I thought it was a pretty ingenius design having the struts go into the roof like they do.

[Ken300D]

Thanks for posting your results on the cross-over pipe inspection. Very interesting.

Ken300D