Ok. Have to admit dealer seems to be trying to treat me ok. They paid for this most recent tow and gave me a rental. (Ford Focus with overflowing ashtray, but at least it runs!) Anyway, picked up car this morning after they replaced fuel filter. Had my wife follow me just in case. No problems. Car runs as good as new. My confidence in the car at this point is obviously very rattled, and reading those other threads (thanks Rick), though informative, are obviously concerning. Some history on this vehicle... purchased used with 76k miles, no knowledge of previous service history. Car now just under 80k, was literally scheduled to go in this last Tues. to authorized Merc. dealer for overall checkup, oil change, etc. Almost made it, missed by 2 days... After purchase, I too had a (small) puddle of fuel on my garage floor. Brought it back and dealer replaced "leaking" components and there has not been a drop on the floor since and the car had truly been running like a dream for about 5 weeks or so. Until this last Sunday. I rescheduled with the Merc. dealer for next week, and intend to have them give the whole fuel system the once-over. Make sure things are cool. Maybe it WAS just the fuel filter....