Greetings,
On the distrutor of this car there is a vaccuum advance and retard. The diaphram for the retard portion is shot and so is the switchover valve which controls when the vacuum is applied to the retard portion. Anyway so I got rid of the whole retard portion by plugging the vacuum lines (the red lines on the diagram are the ones that I plugged). Then I noticed that same hose also goes to the air shut off valve (which I don't know where it is, all I can see is a broken hose hanging off the back of the air pump). My question is if I eliminated the red line in the diagram below will that cause any problems or just raise the emission a little bit.

Some of the folks here have mentioned if I eliminate the retard portion of the distributor it will make my car run a bit better. However I didn't know that the air pump was hooked to the same line.

If I am not beeing clear please let me know. Thanks.

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Do you live in a place where there is emissions testing? If so, you'll need both the air pump and the vacuum retard to work properly. If you don't, these items could fall off the car -- so to speak -- and your vehicle will run fine. (Vacuum retard is just that ... retarded.) Just make sure everything is plugged properly so there are no vacuum or exhaust leaks.

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'01 SLK320, '79 450SL & '01 C320 -- What? 3 Mercedes? I am DEFINITELY crazy!!!

yes, there is some emission testing, but I was able to pass with the retard portion and air pumps vaccuum line off. thanks.

Bumping this thread in case anyone else wants to know this info as this is many years old.

The air shutoff valve on the r107 chassis lives next to the oil filter housing. To be able to get to the rubber vacuum boot you will need to remove the oil filter cover and housing. Directly next to it you will then be able to remove the rubber connector and replace.

Also check to make sure the vacuum line is good. Mine completely fell apart and i had to run a new line from the switch over valve on the other side of the engine!

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-Typos courtesy of my mobile phone.