"Somebody...please just shoot me"
Well, it's been a year since I took delivery of a '86 300 SDL. 1st day driving it, and it's totaled in a wreck. So. Insurance check for total loss, and then buy another one just like on eBay. A year later, after many restoration repairs, and a never-ending paint job, I decide to take the family on a cross country trip. Car started off really well. Just eating up the highway. 1st sign of trouble was the big storm cloud on the horizon. Driving through the storm in north Texas, and it start hailing like crazy. It's not smooth hail, but rough, jagged, sharp looking stuff, and it's coming down like crazy. Get through the storm, pull over to see just how bad it is, and I can't find a dent at all. But, I found a bunch of 'picks / chips' in the paint, right down to the primer. Sheez!
Then, after refilling in OK, I notice the car just doesn't seem to be running with the same power. It's even got a vibration when I'm trying to speed up. And the diesel fumes are horrible. Well, when I pull into a hotel in MO, I've got about 3 gallons of diesel dripping off the car. I open the hood and fuel is spurting all over the place from the top of the #3 injector.
Next day, I'm told by every M-B dealer in the midwest, that those metal high pressure fuel lines never break. (hmmm), and that no body has that part in stock. Luckily for me, I found a guy in Springfield, MO, that has a M-B repair shop, with some consignment sellers on the lot and he pulled a part from one of his customer's cars to get me going, and ordered a new part for his regular customers car.
For those interested, it's 'Robert's Automotive' in Springfield, IL. He's on 6th street (Business I-55) at the cornter of 6th & Ash St. Seems like a great guy.
Finally, the new set of Goodyear Allegra tires that came with the car that got totalled, and were transferred to the ebay car, decided to have a couple of tires separate during the trip, so I had to drive with a horrible vibration at certain speeds. Ugh.
Just a story. I can't believe the bad luck I've had with this car. It's possessed, and the wife has named the car 'Jinxie'. My mechanic has said it wouldn't bother him a bit if the car went away.
More to come