Hey Mark,

SNIP/
But, for the life of me, I can't imagine why some people spend so much time
guessing about why your van is doing something weird. I have found that by
far the most efficient thing to do when confronted by such a diagnostic
riddle, is to have a "full blown, dyed in the wool, unmitigated, fully
informed, high tech gadget owning genius, do your dirty diagnostic work for
you! If you get someone who REALLY knows your car, and I mean specializes
in it, they can tell you what's wrong with your temperamental little beast
in about hours time. You pay him 50 clams or so, and you go then about the
relatively simple task of wrenching the ailing auto back into shape, saving
lots of time and money in the process You get the benefits of having a
specialist tell you what's wrong (saving time), and you do the work (saving
money). No muss, no fuss, no headache. I used to play the "lets track down
this fiddly problem" game, but man, life is short!
/snip
How many of these specialists exist?  That's the problem man, very few
people like this exist except in the garages, backyards and carports around
the country who subscribe to this list.  Where I live, the nearest
dealership is 90 miles away.  When asked to service my '89 Carat, they tell
me that it will take longer than usual since they do not have qualified
technicians familiar with this vehicle.  No Lambasting, just wanted to let
you know why we are all here.
When you can't figure out your particuliar problems and cannot find a
'specialist', write us back and we'll be there for you.

Jeff Birk
'89 Wolfsburg GL (Road Whale)
'82 MB 240D (Slo Mo)