Thanks, Dave. I'm an enthusiast, but not much of a DIY'er. My mechanic has a hand-held scanner and also the ThinkPad-based Mercedes diagnostic system. My 500E is a frequent subject of his examinations! He taught me the error code lights code recently, because my son has one of our 124 wagons up in Northern Cal, and I wanted to track that car's codes before he could bring it back to LA for service. In a way, I think counting the lights has given me a different, not necessarily worse, insight into my car's electrical problems. The MB product will show many different codes each visit, but by clearing the blinking lights shortly after each occurrence, it seems to focus the problem a little better onto one repeating fault. The clue isn't so throughly buried in the comprehensive detail. At any rate, my mechanic replaced several of the vacuum lines and an electric vacuum switch after we discussed Neil's post. I won't be heading north on a speed run to SF for another ten days, but so far, no more "Check Engine" light.

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Mark Stetson
1995 E320 Wagon Moonstone Grey/Parchment 106K mi.
2007 E63 AMG Graphite/designo 75K mi