Joined the madness...

[Mismost]

Spent 3 hours going over a 1983 300DT Turbo wagon, 150,000 miles, no maintance records...checked off a looooong list of items I picked up from lurking on this board...most seemed to check out OK...new inspection so the tires are new, brakes great, tracks straight down the road, steering is a bit sloppy but tie rods and bushings all looked and felt good...could not tell if the SLS was really working or not, back wiper motor is kaput, A/C is out, and the cruise control is on vacation this week. Shifts are off abit with flares if you don't "feather the pedal" (check the vac lines, adjust modulator?) She fires right up, no smoke, little blow by...seems kinda pokey (valve adjust, banjo, aldo work required)...decent looking car, no rust (life-long Texan), compounded a small area and the paint looks like it will buff back up, the interior needs lots of attention...dash wood, front seat covers, shampoo carpets....odometer is in-operative, but the vaccum system works all the doors and all the windows work great! Seems to be a solid platform to start to work.

To bad it didn't make home! She was running like a top, nice and smooth, 70 mph, pulling about 3200 rpm, temperature sitting between 80 and next hash mark, oil pressure pegged at 3.....she just started losing power, felt like it was running outta fuel...pull over and it idles fine...take off again and there it goes again....I'm thinkin' it is a fuel supply problem, but I also read all 18 pages of Bonehead Doctor's saga on power loss which will make you crazy just reading it!

As "luck" would have it, I was across the highway from the brand new Mercedes Benz dealership....I took that as sign from higher powers and limped it into the service bay. She is gonna get their 40 POINT INSPECTION SERVICE...I think I am fixin' to learn why you guys call them "Stealers" instead of dealers!

It was quite a sight to see 3 guys come running with the little paper seat covers, clip boards, tire guages and then when they saw the inside....the look on their faces...but that is a different story.