I stopped at the golden arches to pick up my father a sandwich; I ran in to save the 5 minutes it usually takes to get through the drive-through...

The battery was dead=(

It would crank but not fast enough to turn the car over. I figured, there was a policeman in eating his dinner... ill ask him when he comes out.

One cigarette...

20 minutes...

Another....

He finally comes out carrying a hot fudge sundae. ill bet it was free because he "serves" the public.

"May I ask a jump of you?" i ask him.

"Naww, we can't do that, son; even if you had cables...it'll fry the computer."

Fry the computer? Well, anyway. I sit there, call 1411 on my cellular telephone, they have no listing for Mercedes Benz roadside assistance... she sounds like she’s chewing gum, but every other word is please or thank you, sometimes they're back-to-back.

I finally get Mercedes and after they ask me 3 times to give them the VIN, i tell them its a 79 model... so they tell me the guy will call my phone

30 minutes later he calls, checks everything out again, this time i got smart, he asked what kind of car... i told him a white 240. After a while he arrives, hooks up the stupid little jump box. After a couple minutes I try it, same thing. he gets the battery tester out and tests the battery. Its dead. So I tell him I have jumper cables....

"i can't do that, it'll fry the computer"

So he tries to sell me a battery and i tell him no. A bubba in an old ford work van pulls up to get his "supper" and strikes up a conversation about "them thar deeeeseeel meercaydees" lasting forever, he offers a jump...

He said he has a 6.3 something or another “but its an old one.”

So the Mercedes guy tells me i need a new battery and I tell him to let me try it again.

It cranked.

so now that thats out of my system(if youre still reading...) how many people have sued police and passers by for "frying computers" to make the everyone afraid of offering help? is it "low-class" to carry jumper cables?

I thought police were supposed to serve us? I would have replaced his ice cream for the kindness of a jump-start!

Chime in with your stories; I’d like to hear some!

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http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i1...Untitled-1.jpg

Story about AAA. They sent a tow truck to jump start a member who happened to own a relatively new Mercedes. A 560SEL as I recall. The fellow attached the jumper cables with reverse polarity and a shower of sparks flew when he made contact. The car owner standing nearby heard him say something like "Oh SHeet!" The car failed to start even after connecting the cables correctly. If you know anything about semiconductors you know what happens with reverse polarity. Zap!
All the electrical modules in the car were toast. The car had to be towed to the dealer. The bill was staggering, something in the thousands of $$. AAA balked and was trying to chisel the total down, finally threw up their hands and said they would pay for everything EXCEPT a new clock, they argued that a car's clock wears out or something and wasn't covered. The owner posted a survey of MB owners asking if that was true, and I commented my '71 220's clock still keeps perfect time, as do all my other 4 MB's (I did fix my '83 with the Easley capacitor change $0.25 and it was running perfectly again).

Answer is yes there have been lawsuits I am sure over this sort of thing. AAA is run by a battery of lawyers, you don't want to have to go after them I'll assure you if you do you are in for trouble.
The moral of the story is use your own jumpers and use them properly and you won't have any problems, its the "paid professionals" that drive a tow truck that you have to worry about!
My brother is a locksmith and did road side service in Colorado. He can tell stories about tow truck drivers who tried to jimmy open a door and in the process they ripped out the flat ribon cable that operates electronic locks in newer Euro cars. Volvo charges several hundred $$ for replacements. And some cars won't run if the cable gets damaged. Not my kind of car.

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

I have to say I can't blame the policeman for not wanting to do that. I am sure the city would not want him doing that for fear of liability.

Telling him that computers were almost as large as the car when it was made probably wouldn't have helped, but would have been funny.

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Keep everything as simple as possible-but no simpler--Albert Einstein

I'm trying to figure out your complaint.

The cop should have cut short his lunch break to come out and see what was wrong with your car?

You don't know, of course, whether he paid for his ice cream. I imagine he did, but I would prefer to think that even a national chain like McDonalds still has enough community spirit to give ice cream to policemen.

As for frying the computer, I assume that he was referring to the computer in his cruiser. Are you saying that jumper cables won't fry his computer? That may be correct, but I know a fair amount about cars and I don't know. Why do you expect a cop to know?

Why do people want to blame lawyers for everything? It doesn't sound like he was worried about getting sued. He was worried about frying a computer, which seems like a reasonable concern.

The police are there to serve us. In my experience, that's exactly what they do. They have an exceedingly difficult job and don't get paid nearly enough for the responsibility they bear.

what is even more fun is someone trying to tell you how to jump a car when you are reading the directions off the cable... then there friend tells you how dumb you are useing the F-word liberily

Hey,
I'll tell you a story:
I was riding the subway in New York City and was accosted by a group of thugs. All they did was steal my radio, luckily. There was a policeman in the next station so I got off to tell him about it. He wouldn't do a thing! Said "I can't leave my post". So I called 911 and complained about a robbery. They said "Is there a policeman nearby?" so I said There's one standing right next to me but the idiot won't do anything because he "Can't leave his post". I could see his face light up because we both new the conversation was being recorded. So finally he got on the radio but by that time my radio was long gone.
So I know for a fact police can be real lazy idiots.

Also, if you think getting a jump is hard don't ever lock your keys in the car!

Danny

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1984 300SD Turbo Diesel 150,000 miles

OBK member #23

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So the guy in the Ford van had a 6.3!? or was that the MB mechanic?
Either way they don't deserve one!

I washed my 6.9 at the campus laboratory where I work at. I left the radio on for about an hour which apparently killed the battery (it had 59 months of the 60 months of warranty. I called the campus security for a jumpstart and said that they would be right over. They showed up 40 minutes later despite being the summer and nobody is on campus. The security guy gets leisurely out of the car and uses the battery pack jumpstarter unit. He sets it to trickle and waits 60 seconds and tells me to start it. I tell him that "um you have to set it at a higher charge rate...." he says to "try it anyways" and after barely making one crank revolution he says "your battery is dead". After that, he goes and starts flirting with my girlfriend and about how nice her Honda Civic is.

It's hard to find good help.

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1974 240D 3.0L 4(M) - 250K -OM617.910 + 300D FW + Rajay turbo power!
1977 6.9 3(A) - 84k

I bought one of those Coleman type battery jumpers. Sat in my trunk for a year. Last winter I forgot to turn off my headlights at work, killed the batt. Car's a 123 diesel. After work, I hooked up the battery jumper, waited five mins and the car started right up. I didn't think those things would work with a diesel but I think as long as the original battery is semi-ok they will do fine. Holds a charge for a long time. This happened at about 10 degrees F.

The several times I've been in need, I open the hood and stand there with my jumper cables in my hand till someone offers assistance. Never had to wait long. Strangely its been pickup trucks who have offered assistance.

If you don't carry jumper cables.... well...IMHO its some of the cheapest insurance there is.

If I'm not late for something, I usually stop if I see someone who needs help.

Cops cant scratch their ass these days without getting sued. They're NOT stupid, they're just tired of gold-diggers/nuisance lawsuits.


If you want to see stupid, check out this product of inbreeding... misspells 'diesel' and 'mercedes'. Its so pathetic.

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/car/88704587.html

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Cheers,
Robert

Jumper cables role up nicely to fit inside the spare tire rim.

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DS
2010 CL550 - Heaven help me but it's beautiful
87 300D a labor of love
11 GLK 350 So far, so good
08 E350 4matic, Love it.
99 E320 too rusted, sold
87 260E Donated to Newgate School
www.Newgateschool.org - check it out.
12 Ford Escape, sold, forgotten
87 300D, sold, what a mistake
06 Passat 2.0T, PITA, sold

Las Vegas NV

Yep..right next to the spare belts.

__________________
1984 300SD Turbo Diesel 150,000 miles

OBK member #23

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(='.'=) This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your
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I don't think "To protect and serve" includes on-demand roadside assistance in fast food parking lots. As a taxpayer, I certainly hope not. (When you have a wreck, do the police tow your car to the body shop?)

Providing jump starts is hardly a risk-free evolution. There are plenty of unpleasant things that can occur when two electrical systems are connected. Especially when jumping a diesel. The "jumpee" drives off with a wave and a smile, while the "jumper" heads off to buy a new alternator, or worse.

To protect and to serve??? That's a good one. I think it's been a long time since the police in most cities considered themselves public servants. Now it's "Law Enforcement".
I always keep jumper cables in my vehicles. About once every 10 years I need them for myself, the other 10 times a year I pull them out is to help others. Haven't fried any computers yet....

Oilyrag
I think your jumper cables had more to do with it than the fact that it was a "normal" car. You really have to look carefully at jumper cables to avoid buying junk. I've seen many that look real fat, but its all insulation with only a thin conductor, and that is poorly connected to the clamp.
Buy good cables.

Not to get into a good cop/bad cop discussion but I must recount a couple of experiences with State cops. One Statey was giving me a speeding ticket for going 68 in a 55 zone. While giving me the ticket he went on to explain the ways that I could get out of paying the ticket. In my state if you haven't had a ticket in the last 3 years the present ticket is cancelled. Pretty cool of him to do that. Another Statey drove me 8 miles to a repair shop when my old pickup broke down on a bridge. On the other hand my local cops wouldn't give me the time of day if I was running down the street on fire.

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1981 240d
Newport,RI