To drive or not to drive - E300 running rough and smokey!

[Bcollia]

I must say that I feel bad about my absence here as of late. It seems that the Michigan cold is not only keeping me away from working on my babies, but also keeping me away from my favorite place on the internet.

Regardless the ole E300 has been getting my through the winter, along with the wife's Lumina on really bad days, until a couple days ago. I put the key in and waited for the glow plug light to turn off, but it never came on!! So I have it a few seconds and started her up. I saw "Check Engine Electronics" on the gauge cluster and she was running like crap. Almost like a gasoline car would if it were missing. I searched the forum and googled and came across a few posts that said to check the battery charge, which I did and it was fine.

My question is, should I drive it to have the code read or get it trailered? I'd like to save as much money as I can (so I have more for the W111's). I called my service guy at the dealership and he said that Autozone may even be able to read the code and get me started in the right direction. I called them and sure enough they can. I just do not want to cause more damage. The fact that the glow plug light never comes on is a clue that they most likely need to be changed.

Any help is appreciated, I miss driving this car!

Thanks guys,
Bryan