Hello fellow car forum friends! I am writing this to hopefully be of some help. I get a good number of private message and email from people looking for assistance with their cars. As you can probably tell by my activity on the forums, I love talking about cars, specifically Mercedes-Benz. First of all, I am not a certified Mercedes-Benz technician. I am simply a “car geek” who enjoys doing my own work, studying and learning about cars and mechanical things, and talking about them. I did spend a stint in a Mercedes-Benz dealership where I was able to make some rounds in several different job functions, so I know a bit about how things work there, and I also gained access to some internal documentation and information that has helped me learn more about these cars. That was over ten years ago now, and I have no more active contacts, so all I have now is what is available to anyone. I do have my own copies of WIS, EPC and SDS (Star Diagnosis) which is the source of most of my information now.

I am more than happy to discuss things privately. I understand that not everyone feels comfortable discussing their issues and asking questions in a public forum. Before you take the discussion offline, consider that many people get help by searching the forums. If our discussion is private, then no one else will get the benefit of what we figure out. On top of that, just because I have a lot to say about things does not necessarily mean that I always know what I am talking about! I do have a good bit of hands-on experience, but a lot of my knowledge is just “book learning”. I’m not always right, and don’t always have all the information, so open discussion can let others who know more than me chime in and correct where I am wrong.

Feel free to PM me – I always love to talk cars. Please just consider whether or not it might be better if the discussion became a part of the open forum. And if you are scared that someone chide you for asking a “dumb” question, please know that is not acceptable behavior on the forum and I will be the first person to report it to the moderators.

Good luck and keep driving and smiling!

- Rodney (a.k.a Rudeney)