Exhaust Pipe Tip Color

[280SE Guy]

Today was one of those nice, cool, low humidity days so we went for a drive. A couple of you might think me crazy for only taking Anthracite out on days such as this one but it is more enjoyable for me with the window down enjoying the cool breeze.

When I was at the Deutsche Classic car show back on July 9th, there were a few people that asked me how the car was running. I took them to the back of the car and pointed to the exhaust tail pipe and asked them "you tell me". They all had a big smile as they looked at the light grey color of the exhaust pipe.

After the drive today I thought some of you might enjoy a picture of it:



As some of you might remember the car was so dirty from all of the dust during the car show I spent many hours giving her a full bath on Monday the 11th. The next day I spent a few hours cleaning the interior. On Wednesday the 13th of July I spent some time cleaning out the trunk area. That is when Anthracite revealed another original feature I had not noticed in the last 37 years of owning her. It is a "number 1" sticker on the right inside back of the trunk near the lug wrench and tool bag:



There will probably be some more secrets she hasn't shown me yet.

Regards,

280SE Guy

[Benz Dr.]

Are you running leaded fuel or some sort of strange additive?  I haven't seen that sort of exhaust colour in a long time. Most are black that I ever see.

[280SE Guy]

I always thought that was a sign of a finely tuned motor as I remember it from the "old days". Nice isn't it?

She does run fine and loves to romp around during the occasional spin on the back roads when the weather is just right.

Regards,

280SE Guy

[Benz Dr.]

It is. Better have a look at the spark plugs which is a better indication of how it's running. Any black specks and you're in trouble.

[280SE Guy]

OK. Pulled number 2 plug this morning to take a look at it. Should be representative of the other 5.

Your thoughts?



Plugs are Bosch W7DC.

Regards,

280SE Guy

[Benz Dr.]

This is VERY interesting. The standard spark plug for a 113 is the W7DC but I always found them to be far too cold and moved up to the hotter plug W9DC.
 Although unleaded fuel burns a bit hotter most spark plugs have a dark colour around the shell when removed even after a short period of use. The one you show here has nothing on it and has the appearance of being run on leaded fuel as do the tail pipes. There may be a simple explanation for all of this but I'm not seeing it. Your spark plug doesn't look like it's been runnning too hot but it's loooking like the engine may be running too lean. Try the split linkage test which should give you an indication of air/fuel ratio.