  It is now established that, contrary to common belief, (electro-)vacuum
Brans-Dicke gravity does not reduce to general relativity for large values of
the Brans-Dicke coupling $\omega$. Since the essence of experimental tests of
scalar-tensor gravity consists of providing stringent lower bounds on $\omega$,
the PPN formalism on which these tests are based could be in jeopardy. We show
that, in the linearized approximation used by the PPN formalism, the anomaly in
the limit to general relativity disappears. However, it survives to second (and
higher) order and in strong gravity. This fact is relevant for experiments
aiming to test second order light deflection and Shapiro time delay.
