Two questions this good morning, gentle folks.
 

The carpeted panel beneath the rear window in my 84SD is saturated with black soot. How does all the soot get into the diesel w126s?

I also have a few small spots of ruse residue on the headliner. Though tiny they will stick out like a sore thumb when I've installed all the fresh painted vinyl and plastic in this car. What's the quick fix for this, paint, whiteout, repaint the entire headliner?

check your trunk gasket,you can replace it,or soften up with silicone.I have used vasaline to seal until gasket comes.

I have repainted headliners.Also one time removed fabric,glue,and just painted.

As far as the "black soot", it might be black mold due to moisture. Just a thought.

What brand of paint?
 

Since I have the entire interior out of the car it would be a fantastic opportunity to paint the headliner. I wonder if SEM makes a paint which matches the original color.

I still have enough SEM xxx 77774 cleaner and their vinyl prep to handle that too.

If you have old seals, diesel soot will find its way in. Take a look at the taillight lense too. Notice how one is way darker than the other?

I may buy all new seals for the rear of this car. I know I have a lot of work to do on the sunroof. The rubber is dried and cracked, ready to crumble. The body sat for a total of 15 years. Such is the fate of a 380 SE.

Only front and rear seals are available for your SD sunroof gasket. I'll know in a few weeks whether the 86+ can be made to work.

SEM has at least a color close to Palomino.

and not only sunroof gaskets, check also the drain lines out of the sunroof - are they clear?

Sem had the identical color for my gray interior. It was matched at Finishmasters here in Greenville. Greg, the man who helped me at FM, handed me back the swatch I'd given him the day before and I couldn't find the paint spot on it. After spraying a door panel on the second coat I realized that if there is a better product than SEM on the market no one would know.

I am impressed beyond words with SEM's paint. But I warn anyone who decides to paint vinyl. Ammonia will do anything the SEM XXX 77774 cleaner will do. After scrubbing the vinyl with a scotchbrite pad using ammonia and Ivory Liquid the 77774 took nothing else off. Greg at FM told me ammonia was the right solvent for anything on vinyl. He was so correct but I used SEM despite professional advise.

I also used SEM vinyl prep. It took nothing else off for the solution of ammonia and Ivory left nothing.

As far as the sunroof work, I sure am glad someone is going through that project. The FSM is greek to me on how to disassemble and repair a sun roof.

I look forward to speaking with you about your experience with this project.

Thanks you, sir. I certainly shall clear those lines. I have some weekeater string that's about three times the diameter of what most machines use. It's very stiff and has cleaned an SD sunroof drain or two already.

The sunroof comes apart just like the FSM says. Don't spend much time trying to understand the system before hand. Just do as the destructions say and the thing wi end up working fine.

I used a brush from a gun cleaning kit to get back in the places that were difficult to reach.

The W126 has flaps in the trunk, located under the side portion of the rear bumper. About the only way to check them is to remove the internal trim panel or the rear bumper. Something may have worked its way down into the side well and is holding the flap open.

When you speak of trim panels are you talking about the side trunk panels?

Yes, the side trunk panels.

It is visible, near the bottom of the picture, in this post.
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/388853-where-did-oil-come.html