In all honesty, I'm not tired of the W124, and in all likelihood, once I locate the blasted list with the "recommended" issues with my car, I'll post them for general amusement/perusal. I have the manuals for my chassis all on cd-rom, and I'll more than likely hop on the ole fast lane here a la my rear shock replacement... which I did for approx 260$ total including shop time on base and not the 600+ my mechanic at the time was asking for it. The only limiting factor concerning repairs, is finding a lift to put my car on and actually settling in and doing the fixes myself, by the book, and purchasing my own parts. I enjoy learning about my car and pride myself in the little bit I've done myself, while marveling how little cost it actually was out of my pocket. compression, I do believe I completely "lust" after the E300, especially after this past weekend where some volvo enthusiasts pretty much warned me I have a pretty decent shape car on my hands and i should keep it till it goes completely. I'm currently sitting at about 231,500 (less, but its within 2-300 miles of 500). As soon as I can I'll get up with the "Surgical Wallet Depletion Specialists" (I like that one) and give a breakdown of the issue I described, and their best "guess"/how they can wring the most cash from me. The main issue I've been having I posted about a year and a half ago right here White Smoke from my exhaust . Besides that, slight squeal coming from the driver's side tire. Possible Strut replacement, I've known about that one, just waiting on tax return money to get the parts/maintenance. Coolant reservoir leaking/seeping/generally loosing fluid (last time I checked it which was saturday, it was sitting just above halfway above the middle line in the reservoir itself, its in German, so I can't make heads/tails of the actual level) Transmission (automatic) slipping into gear when shifting from 3rd to 4th, although after driving the mech said it was shifting fine. Those were the big ones that I mentioned before getting it looked at. I know I may be over explaining things, and you all are very knowledgeable about diesel mercedes, but I want to make sure everyone understands where I'm coming from. Thanks guys for your timely and helpful response, more to come from me as far as this goes.