Easy Jamie,

I didn't mean to step on your toes. Wax on. Wax off. Wax on. Wax off. I was merely offering my 30 years of experience as a factory trained Mercedes mechanic. I ran my own full blown shop for 20 years. A correct and complete diagnostic approach is the fastest way to determine why a car doesn't run as opposed to Easter egging and guessing at everything. All the things you mentioned are possible problems in a vehicle, but changing all the vacuum hoses in the engine compartment won't help if the pump can't put out a liter of fuel in 40 seconds. I have seen people try every trick in the book to solve a rough idle problem and spend hours. If they had started with proper diagnostics, they would have discovered in less than a half hour that the car had no compression in one cylinder by doing a compression test. It's like medicine. When a patient complains of coughing and shortness of breath, you don't send them for an MRI or a blood work up. You check the lungs for fluid with a stethoscope, and if the sound isn't good, you send them to radiology for a chest xray. I spend quite a bit of time here helping people, and I do get satisfaction when I can help them solve their problem. I do, however, get annoyed when I'm asked for help, and my advice is totally ignored. It is even worse when you don't even get a thank you for something you normally charge $70.00/hr for and give away for free on this site. I think these are the reasons that the professionals are dropping off this site. They are burnt out. There are many on this site who have shown appreciation, and I have their names. We professionals offer years of experience for free, and all we ask is a simple thank you. The original poster can follow whichever path he chooses, but I have several broken MBs that I have bought waiting for me to do the valve jobs, etc. This thread is going on a month now, and my interest is waining.


Peter

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