I'm afraid I have to agree that the CD's are not what I had hoped for, but they did seem to be all that was available.

Since they are "factory" manuals, I knew what to expect since I had tried buying factory manuals for my BMW's in the past. My only complaint in this regard is that there are entire systems not included (tranny for example) and in some areas I've found references to manual sections that do not appear on the CD. "Editing" for the aftermarket?

My main complaint is the quality. The manuals were obviously produced by mass scanning the paper manuals. This has resulted in pretty terrible quality in the photographs and diagrams. I've managed IT operations and supported electronic publishing operations for close to 30 years and I know that these could have been done better. Some of the photos in the CD are totally unintelligible.

I have to admit that I'm not too sympathetic with the $'s argument. If I was running a Mercedes repair facility, it would be different, but I'm not. What I'd hoped to get was a manual to help me with some normal repairs (or maybe not so normal, like my door lock linkage problem), but not something that would help me perform functions that a shop should do. I'd used Robert Bentley manuals for my BMW's for years and they are excellent. I called them to see if they had something available for my Benz and they explained the MB would not license them to produce manuals.

I should add that I totally agree with CJ about the worth of this forum. I've gotten a tremendous amount of value from it and can only thank those of you who answer the questions of those of us who have less experience. Hopefully we can add something of value in return some day.

[This message has been edited by Dave Ross (edited 07-15-2000).]