I sympathize with you. It cost me about $500 some 8 years ago when I ran into the same problem on my 300sd. Had to be towed to dealer. No problems since...yeah its a lot of money, but this is one of the toughest things to repair it seems and it's best repaired professionally Maybe you can save money elsewhere. I did my own oil, fuel, air, transmission filter changes for 10 yrs when this car was my daily driver.

__________________
1) 84 300SD 285K+ Miles (Ver Calif)
2) 84 300SD 175K+ Miles (Ver Federal)