ok everyone, i gotta ask, what's this about?? as was told to me by another member, this is the area in which to look, and learn, about the flame trap. i bought my daughter an' 85 244DL, 4 cyl, fuel injected. have had my share of trials since we've owned it, and , coming across another member's post concerning removing his flame trap, i had to come and check this out! what exactly was this device designed to do, and, if it was there in the first place, then i guess it was up to the owners of the various models to figure out that it was unnecessary, and began removing it for more power, performance, etc. so, i'd like to know, has anyone done it on the 240 series, where is it, and should it be something i should address right away, car has around 220K miles, and i've got her running good. i'm lucky, because my kid is rather responsible, and tends to baby this car, even tho it's older than she is! so, if this is something that is a necessity, i'd like to know, i've been given a lot of good info thru this forum, and it's nice to know that there are others out there who are willin to help newbies, like me! thanks, louis

Since the only advantage to taking it out is to avoid cleaning it, why run the very small risk of a crank case explosion. In the unlikely event that it happened, you would loose several seals, the oil trap and a few hoses probably. Why not put it in, clean it once in a while and avoid the very small risk!
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'96 965, 16' wheels, rear 18mm bar & Koni + 204HP cams at 125K. Had '85 745 Turbo Diesel for 200K.

The crankcase ventilation system is simply some plumbing which burns off the crankcase fumes. The main plumbing component is located under the 3rd intake runner, has a hose coming up from crankcase and a hose going to the air intake bellows and a small vacume hose. Inside it is a small plastic disk or on some models a brass coiled up screen, that is the flame trap device and it can get clogged so some Bricksters simply remove it, no change in power or performance. In theory it stops a flame front in the event of a backfire from travelling down into the crankcase, but that just never happens. The system should be serviced, if clogged you can build up crankcase pressure and force oil out the seals. The vacume line is subject clogging as well as the brass fitting where it connects to the valve body.
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David Hunter

it's basically a spark arrester to prevent crankcase explosions. The non-OHC engines had a brass insert, and if you left it out, you'd have an explosion, especially on carburator cars. The turbo cars don't have one.
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'86, '88 740 GLE; '88, 89 740 Turbo, '88 760 Ti (stolen), now '92 965

You can pull the insert out if you want but I would not expect any increase in horse power. The advantage to pulling it out is in keeping it from plugging up and pressurizing your crankcase and blowing oil seals out.

Mark