The Bob.

Sounds like you are having one of those days that plagues us all now and then. As of late this potential for unusual spiralling evil with a wrench in my hand has resulted in a broken shock on the son's 16 valve 190E, as well as bending a fastener that holds the camshaft to the drive sprocket while adjusting the valves. Both events were major crisis but the bent bolt actually fell into the engine, which resulted in a noise heard for several thousand yards in all directions. Luckily the population density is kind of low so I probably only disturbed a bunch of wildlife. I got the screw back out with a magnet, and found an exact replacement at the local hardware store. So, sometimes really bad luck leads to some good luck and things kind of even out. Don't ask my son about that though.

He is presently suffering from having been rear ended in the 190E 2.3-16, and having the insurance company decide they want to total the car. He was on Interstate 91 going South on November 14, in a big traffic jam due to a flipped over truck. There is an HOV lane that was apparently unaffected so the cars there were travelling at normal speeds. When my son approached the accident he was at a standstill in the left normal traffic lane, when some guy alone in the HOV lane concluded it was not wise to drive past a couple dozen cop cars without a passenger. So the guy crosses a median (marked no-man's land on the pavement about two lane widths with drainage features and typically a load of collected debris, like car parts and sand) to rejoin the legal-for-him lanes, and for some reason never slows down and runs into the back of the 190E. My son saw him coming but could only brace himself and jam his brakes on hoping to avoid being pushed into the stopped car in front of him.

He is in therapy for whiplash and lower back issues, but the car sacrificed itself for him and absorbed a lot of energy. The book value of the car is minimal, but he has spent about $7,000 or $8,000 dollars of his part time jobs in highschool and college restoring it (used to be my car from the day it was ordered, it is a Euro, and I drove it 215,000 miles in 16 years).

So he is not a happy guy right now. Sore neck, which the doctor says will be an issue for the rest of his life, sore back (likely to be ok in a month or two) and no car, which he was pretty passionate about. Lots of days where fixing something resulted in removal of the entire interior to get at something he broke (like the manual gearbox shifting linkages - big adventure, lots of new tools to learn to use, like easy-outs, taps, etc.), but he was always motivated to get the job done. He has yet to cost himself much more than a bunch of small parts and lots of his time and energy to grow new skin on his hands.

Well, that was a long winded welcome to the club of do it yourselfers. These days I can almost always trace the cause for a disaster to a deficit in experience or tooling or both. Good luck, Jim

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Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)