Felt up, poked, pried, prodded and pulled-still no "Happy Ending"!

(My good friend and close neighbor Brian-he's big on Think, small on Stink, and just the man to help out-we used to shoot bb guns at each other, 25 years ago. Note his handmade "travel size" toolbox-this is just for going back and forth from my house to his, most likely)




("I SEE THE HEAD[LIGHTS]!-"Brian feels around Greta's innards to see if she's ready to birth a new SLK)

We took the advantage of a relatively decent Sunday afternoon to work on Greta's incontinence problem-that is to see where the source of her coolant leak is hiding out. I enlisted the help of my good friend and close neighbor Brian, who is exactly the kind of guy you want on this job short of a certified Benz Mechanic-Brian can look at a bolt and tell you what it's made of, the maximum torque allowed, and whether or not it's reverse-threaded before even cleaning the grease off of it. He can fabricate almost anything out of almost anything, has welding, machining, and carpentry skills, and is entertaining to boot. He likes to get out of the house on a good weekend, and this was a perfect excuse for him.

(first thing we do is cut the ties off all the vacuum lines-a Benz is FILTHY with vacuum lines under the hood-everything runs off vacuum it seems)

(Next step is to remove all the little clips holding the radiator and fan shroud in place)

(turn your head to the side for this one, note ground at bottom left, which should be TOP left in photo...the REAR fan shroud separates from the FRONT...the fun is not quite out of this yet...but close.)

(Brian got tired of hearing my yelps as I banged my head on Greta's hood-so he made me put on additional safety equipment-this is what my life is reduced to....notice "rocket scientist" costume-a lab coat with "Raytheon Aerospace" embroidered on the pocket....the short bus is coming up the drive, just off camera...)

(for the sake of equal time, here's Brian trying on a new helmet at the Cycle World Show at the Jacob Javits Center in NYC last month. The Yuengling shirt is his uniform most days.)


([INSERT FAN JOKE HERE] Well, THERE'S my problem! one of them anyway...sigh...note $4 Advance Auto 8mm Allen wrench, being test-fitted. "SHE'S GOOD!")

The unseen news is that, like the fan, the radiator is damaged-I will have to shop out a suitable replacement. They start cheap, but you want at least an OEM-Spec replacement like a Behr, which has metal tubing INSIDE the angle fittings where your hoses bolt up. This prevents breakage at inopportune times, like in the desert. More later.