a month ago my muffler broke off at the pipe between the first and second muffler on my 84 300d. only the first inline muffler remains. i havnt replaced the second muffler because there is no noticeable performance diffrence and it is just a little louder. is this a safety hazard as far as breathing in fumes from under the car? also i hae one of those k@n air filter setups which goes directly into the turbo. instead of rerouting the breather tube on top of the cylinder head i am just running a heater hose from the head down underneath the engine. i know this seems irresponsible but i was told that what is coming out is just a miniscule amount of oily vapor. is this also a health/environmental hazard i should worry about?

As far as the Diesel fumes go...It depends on your definition of Safty hazard...The Reason they switched to diesel in big trucks years ago was so that the drivers would not be killed sleeping in the truck with the engine running... or at least that was one of the major Perks... Can't be good for ya tho...

Always though this would be a good movie gag, a scene of someone trying to off them selves with a pipe from there MB diesel tailpipe into the back window.

I found a suicide victim in a gasoline car years back was not funny at all. After I called it in I waited for the police, The state police asked me questions for several hours ,asked such things as how long did I know the person when did I last see him etc. had we been in a fight (the man was a complete stranger from another town). I was checking my trap line at the time and had a hand gun and wet old cloths on.........

William Rogers........

Seems to me that

"They would be pretty much done in no time..." :p

Yeah, you had a fight with the guy and he was so mad that he locked himself in a running automobile.................

Makes you wonder how some of these clowns ever solve any crimes at all.

To answer the tailpipe question: the car was designed to have the whole exhaust system; i.e. both the resonator (first muffler) and the muffler. As far as safety from fumes go, it's your call. How long do you sit in traffic on top of the open exhaust, any chance of being stranded in winter and you have to spend the night in the car, etc.

Breather tube routing: again it's your call. You'll find lots of argument both ways by using the search.

Trucks began switching to diesel in the early 1950's purely for economic reasons. Gas trucks got 3-5mpg, diesel got 4-6mpg at the time. Repair costs cut nearly in half over the life of the truck, providing the maintenance was done. Putting the exhaust at the top of the truck kept drivers alive in the sleeper, and was done before the switch to diesel.

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daBenz - 1970 220D

Diesel typically puts out 10% of the carbon monoxide of a non-catalyst gas engine.
The fumes won't likely kill you, but you'll get sick of them soon enough.

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1984 300Sd 210k

Former cars:
1984 300D 445k (!!) (Strider) Original (and not rebuilt) engine and transmission. Currently running on V80 ( 80% vegetable oil, 20% petroleum products). Actually not, taking a WVO break.
1993 300d 2.5 275k. Current 120/day commuter
1981 300SD 188k (Hans) Killed by a deer