Blog

The car was smoking on the grid after my 9th run at the Autocross. Literally. Smoke coming out of the left side of the engine compartment. Oh no! I opened the hood and was relieved to see refrigerant spewing out of the pipe from the condenser to the receiver/dryer.

Originally from the great State of Ohio, Edina was born in Cleveland. She obtained her Bachelor's degree in Finance and Quantitative Analysis from the University of Mount Union. Edina put her quantitative analysis skills to work at an early age mucking horse stalls in order to earn riding lessons (smart financial decision). Now in her early 50’s, she is a Consultant at Huron Consulting Group...

Convertible Top Issues – Again. Different car this time – a 2002 CLK55 Cabriolet A208. A somewhat simpler arrangement than on an R129, with only 7 hydraulic cylinders compared to the 11 or 12 on the 129. This car also has a bypass on the hydraulic pump that you are supposed to open to manually operate the trunk. Thankfully I have not had too many issues with this top, but the latest one gave me...

Stephen (“Steve”) was born in Landau on der Isar, Germany. His father was Hungarian and his mother German. The family immigrated through Ellis Island when Steve was five. They were sponsored by a Houston church, until his Dad could get recertified in the USA as a veterinarian. Steve grew up in the Houston/Galveston area.

Atlanta is home to Mercedes-Benz, and now home to Star Summit - MBCA Peachtree's largest event of the decade. MBCA Peachtree will start the weekend off with a Tech Session at DC Motorwerks on Friday afternoon. Friday evening Stars of Road and Wrist cocktail reception, sponsored by Mercedes-Benz Experience Center in Alpharetta, GA. This by invitation-to-show event will feature a curated display of...

Sooner or later, most folks that have both Diesel and gasoline fueled cars will add the wrong fuel to the tank. There are A LOT of online forum posts on this issue, and I just had to face this with our 2008 R320 CDI. Fortunately, the car was not started with the 18.95 gallons of gasoline in the tank. We had it towed home then I went to work. The R320 is not a particularly easy car to work on...

Looking back over my Gary’s Garage articles, I see I have probably written more about my 1992 500E than any other car. I guess it’s to be expected for a 228,000 mile car, it’s a great car but high mileage and it’s a little more complex than most of the W124s. My first Mercedes was a W124 (a 93 400E) and they are probably my favorite chassis (R129s are right up there too), but I think you need to...