I was thinking about coming down ... haven't ruled it out. I do have to work that evening, but don't have to be in until 6 p.m. so it would be doable. Just a question of how much driving I want to do. Do you think it's a good idea to put on a lot of miles with the steering/susp noises, plus the broken spring? I can tell the spring has been cracked for a while, so I doubt it's going anywhere, but I'm still learly of driving it around like that when I have the Jeep sitting here (the FINALLY repaired Jeep ... what a saga for something really simple). I'm taking it in the the Indy anyway early next week to talk to him about lifters, so I might have him just look at it then ... my dad and I have known him for a long time (my dad knew him long before I was born), and he's very fair about helping with that sort of thing. If I just have something simple that I'm concerned about, he'll usually just glance at it without charging, unless it requires some sort of disassembly, cleaning, etc. So depending on what I decide to do about the lifters, I may or may not show up with the Benz ... if I do, I'd be delighted to have you knowledgable folks inspect the suspension bits.

Hey, if the Benz is out of commission, would anyone be offended if I showed up in the diesel Jeep?

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)