Great story and glad to hear the 560 is bringing you so much enjoyment.

I'm leaving for LV myself this afternoon with the wife. Just got back last night from a trip to Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Vancouver.

I have a small amount of business in LV, then the rest is R & R.

However, I may not take the Mercedes. It developed another coolant leak, and after close inspection, I determined it was the heater hose going from the back of the engine through the fire wall. I was pissed off and high-tailed it to my mechanic to get it fixed while I work at out of the house this morning to get ready for the trip.

On the way to the shop, I hit the accelerator real hard (in a hurry), and the car stumbles and hiccups and hesitates badly. I am so heart-broken that I'm speechless. What can be wrong with this damn car now????

I can only hope that when the dealer replaced the intake manifold gasket, that one of the spark plug wires went bad, or one of the 'ends' needs to be replaced.

Fwiw, I also noticed that when I glanced at my garage floor and noticed the coolant leak, I also noticed that my oil leak at the head gasket is getting incredibly bad, that the oil is pooling on the floor, like someone turned on the spicket.

I called the mechanic and he confirmed the head gasket leak is now almost too bad to let go much longer.

I guess in the next couple of months, I'll be doing the head gasket, valve guides and seals. Another $2,000 on the Mercedes. My wife is going to kill me...

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".