I was told by my MB parts salesman that shop manuals are unavailable to the public for 96-present vehicles. Is this correct or was I misinformed?

It's true . . but if you don't want to trust a dealer, call 1-800-FOR-MERC, ask for literature and you can get the answer straight from the horses mouth



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14 yrs experience in MB dealerships, 11 in parts

My understanding of their philosophy is that they will not release CD-complete information to the public until a chassis is out of production and everything is "known" about it. (problems, fixes for said problems, all updates, etc) Don't expect anything for the W210 anytime soon. Sorry I can't offer you better news. Best I can do is that in the meantime we are here for tech support/advice.

Hope this helps...Lee