I wanted to thank everyone again for helping me out on this. I am ordering the part today from the forum shop.

What stumped me on this one was that even though I knew the exact location of the part from Johnhefs beautiful 4 page forum reference (with pictures) I still could barely see the darn thing. I actually found it first be feeling around in its general location and even after I found it I couldnt get any angle where I could actually see it well let alone the type or size of bolt holding it in place.

I ended up fitting a 1/4 socket over it and using a universal and an extension was finally able to loosen it. Removing it required more torque than I expect and in fact defeated my attempt to use a flexible extension which twisted up.

Anyway I really appreciate all the help.

While im at it I wonder if anyone could tell me what this part does

http://catalog.eautopartscatalog.com/mercedesshop/sophio/wizard.jsp?partner=mercedesshop&clientid=catalog.mercedesshop&baseurl=http://catalog.peachparts.com/&cookieid=1ZI12GYL71ZL0YLQGY&year=2001&make=MB&model=E-320-006&category=All&part=Camshaft+Position+Sensor

At first I thought that was the problem. Its actaully I guess the camshaft position sensor vs this one

http://catalog.eautopartscatalog.com/mercedesshop/sophio/wizard.jsp?partner=mercedesshop&clientid=catalog.mercedesshop&baseurl=http://catalog.peachparts.com/&cookieid=1W30TVH0Y1ZI0XWBXT&year=2001&make=MB&model=E-320-006&category=All&part=Reference+Sensor&appEngines=_any

which I guess is the crankshaft position sensor.

Should I replace both while Im at it?

How do I know which is actually causing my trouble?

thanks