[Vwdiesel] "new" 1997 Mercedes E300 diesel

[Doyt W. Echelberger]

You have a beautifully designed world-class car that anyone would be proud 
to own. I have one about three years younger, but not a diesel. And you 
want to drive it on your trip early next week.

he free Autozone diagnosis is certainly something to do easily.  But if 
there is a MB dealer within 60 miles of you the next step would be to give 
them a call. Your problems could be expensive, and dangerous.

The dealer will have a computer capability that is FAR more precise than 
the generic information available anywhere else. Consider calling  them up 
and telling them about the engine, horn and air bag malfunctions, and ask 
for an estimate for just the cost of a _diagnosis......"what will it cost 
for me to bring in the car and have you connect it to your factory computer 
and apprise me of the readout?"

Then you will know the cost of getting the best information available.  The 
dealer diagnostic might turn out to be  very reasonable.....like $100.

I have a 2000 MB E320 and went through all those steps when I had a 
malfunction, including visiting Autozone.  The info from Autozone was not 
enough to pin-point the problems and the solutions. I took it to a local 
non-dealer independent who works on MB all the time and he tried to 
intuitively correct the poorly defined problems, which turned out to be 
beyond his capability. THEN I took it to a dealer an hour away and got the 
real problems located and corrected. So, I paid twice.

If your problem is in any way associated with the Mercedes computer, your 
best bet for good information is a direct call to the dealer.

There are several instances on http://www.benzworld.org/forums of air bags 
deploying for no reason, and neither MB or insurance paying the 
bill.  Replacing air bags involves thousands of dollars and it sounds like 
you have a computer malfunction notice that points in that direction....not 
to mention the engine malfunction reading and the horn problem.

All three items could be big time expensive.

If I had your situation, I think I'd choose paying the MB dealer for the 
full story, up front, on all items before I drove to Minn. on a check 
engine light. That is what the previous owner did for 20,000 miles. Then he 
sold the car. Are you taking the first step on a slippery slope, that 
involves saying " I' don't really want to know about this car's problems. 
I'm going to ignore the warnings and drive it till it breaks." ?

Doyt