Daughter and Wife Arrived Home from San Diego This Afternoon! - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

JimSmith · #1 08-15-2003, 04:33 PM

Well guys, thanks for all the offerings for help when my daughter was on her way out to San Diego. The car made it out there just fine, and I should be able to have her scan a bunch of photos to post later. She left about 10 days ago to come home, this time with my wife driving a second car following her.

While my daughter was out there, my wife agitated me to buy a 1985 Euro 190E 2.3-16 on eBay for my daughter to take to work when she gets back. The plan was for my wife to fly out there, help them clean the apartment up to ensure they got their deposit back, and then, since all the other kids were flying home, drive back with my daughter.

Well, the "new car" had 120,000 miles on it and was in very good condition. Even with that, the day before they were leaving the catalytic converter crapped out and plugged the exhaust, leaving my wife stranded on a highway outside San Diego. I got a frantic phone call and concluded she needed to call AAA. She did, and had the car towed to a European car shop near my daughter's condo. The place they went to was Charlie's Foriegn Auto, and as far as I am concerned they did an outstanding diagnosis and repair. The car went in Friday, late in the afternoon or early evening, and came out before noon on Monday, with the repair bill about $350 for a new cat. The car ran beautifully all the way home, 3541 miles.

The trip home was relatively uneventful, with the only difficulty being the old Diesel getting a little warm in the Mojave Desert. My daughter insisted on driving the Diesel all the way home, and in these unusually hot areas (showing 45*C ambient in the Mojave Desert on the 190E outside air temperature gage which looks like more than 120*F!) she had to turn the interior heat on to keep the temps below 105*C. This led to a higher leakage rate from the rear crank seal, and she had to use a quart of oil every 700 miles.

They drove to Joshua Tree National Park and camped there the first night. Then they went to the Grand Canyon, camped there and on to Palo Duro Canyon National Park, where they also camped out. Then they travelled pretty directly to Graford, Texas to visit my wife's brother and his family (about 100 miles west of Dallas). After a few days in Graford relaxing they got back on the road travelling through Arkansas, Tennessee, and West Virginia, then up to Pennsylvania and home. They stayed in Allentown, Pa last night to avoid the chaos of the blackout in Westchester and lower portions of Connecticut, arriving home at about 12:30 this afternoon.

The 1982 240D now has 306,000 miles, which means the daughter drove it about 3,000 miles in the 6 weeks they were in San Diego. She took it to Mexico at least once, and they apparently spent a great deal of time in the car going to and from work.

I will post photos later, although this is a busy weekend. My son is off to college tomorrow and I am off to LA on Sunday for business, but I will do my best to post a few shots, especially of the returning road knight, that 240D. What an awesome machine! It seems to be leaking a little Diesel fuel from the number one cylinder injection line at the top of the injection pump. Other than that, it seems to be the same as it was when it left. We will wash it and give it a spritz of Zaino Brother's Z-6.

Later, Jim

diesel don · #2 08-15-2003, 04:55 PM

Jim:

That is amazing. Sounds like your daughter has the same attitude as mine do. They love their diesels.
My oldest is going to college with her '84 in about a week. I reminded her that it was my car on loan to her for another 4 years only. She smiled and said, 'then upon graduation, I'll buy it from you'.

I'm glad your family had a safe trip.

Don