So I decided to replace the benz starter, i had done the alternator a few months ago and the starter had a couple issues, it was a little slow to crank that big ol diesel over and there were a couple occassions when it was hot that i would have to click the key a couple times. So i jack the front up, hop under there and notice I've got to remove the steering stabilizer, and the tranny dipstick tube, brace etc, etc... I'm thinking to myself with the mag light propped up in there "**** this, I've got two jobs going, no time and it's starting to rain I'll just drop it at the shop next week" right then the flashlight falls chips my tooth which of course led me to the conclusion that i could no longer take it to the shop as i had chipped a tooth and a challenge had been wagered my way. So I did it all, new starter rocks and I hope it's another 25 years and 178k before i need to replace this one LOL



BTW, we sold amy's car on ebay about $1,000 less then we had hoped to get for it, but **** it. Not sure what we're buying now, we may hold off a little while, we've got a couple thoughts in mind.

good to hear the car is gone, get a G8, they just had 72 months no interest financing!

A pontiac? LOL hell no. I won't be buying an American car. Talk about catching a falling knife.

I almost sold my Jeep yesturday and was going to buy a G8. Guy at the shop across the street had his Jeep crap out on him and keeps asking for mine. I would just walk away from the Jeep at this point, otherwise the lease is up Nov. 30th. Hopefully the knife has fallen and there are still a few G8s sitting around somewhere for me to buy.

the top of the line G8 is a sick car, pontiac or not.



no idea on it's reliability, gm is gm afterall, but i'd testdrive it at least if i was in the market.



BTW, way to man up and actually do the job...i was about to bitch your lazy ass out if you went to a shop and got bent the hell over. While you were in there tho you should've setup a new starter relay to make sure you were getting all the power to the starter that its supposed to get... old wiring makes voltage disappear



kevin.

meh, i'll pass, we're not sure what we are getting her or that we are getting anything at this point. I like the g8, but my theory on buying a GM car at this point is that it only serves to encourage "them", so I'll stick to a non "Government Motors" car at this point. You see when you see me driving around my g8 you could say to me "nice car Scott, you know I helped you buy that car and I'd like you to thank me" and I would have little recourse. We'll know by the end of the year how her job is going to work out, if they are going to keep the place open for another year or so we'll prolly go ahead and buy a 2007 or 2008 e320 diesel, if they are going to shut the place down we don't plan on being here for the next couple of years so she won't need a new car. For now I'm keeping my eyes open for an older 300cd to match my 300d https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/biggrin.gif

yea i understand not wanting to chip into the GM moneypit, i think id have a hard time handing my money to GM. Ford's at least giving it a shot, but it's ford...they do have the new taurus SHO coming out which is getting good reviews but still looks rather bleh to me...and its a taurus.



Meh, what exactly are her/your needs? I like trying to match people to cars. Don't overlook Mazda BTW, cars are doing great, cx9 and cx7 id avoid (cx7 everything breaks, cx9 too much money for a mazda). but the 3, 6, 5 and *amazingly* the *new* rx8 are having very minor problems if any at all.



I do at least like 1-3 flooded 04-08 rx8s a week, the 09's i've yet to see flood, and with the new tall gears out back they have some faux acceleration...still wouldnt buy one personally.



I'm a big fan of the 3 and the MS3, my mom traded in her 05 mustang for an 09 grand touring mazda6, great car, few problems so far.



kevin.

Yea we're going for luxury and probably diesel, but like i say it will depend on whether or not we are still planning to be in the US next year.

car + diesel seems to be VW's thing lately...but i would never again own any part of a vw or audi....knowledge of the cars fun "magical" abilities prevents it.



kevin.

Not really maybe they have advertised it more, but Mercedes has put more into diesel technology then VW, the bluetec diesel is Mercedes design. Not to mention they've been building them longer, it sucks we don't get more diesels in the US market, you can get almost anything diesel in Europe. Anyhow we drove the diesel Jetta, that car sucks, nothing luxury or even nice about it, way over priced.

VW sucks balls

With your teeth? Seemed to work pretty well with the flashlight.

Back to the G8 (yeah, I know), my wife and I were stomping around town a few weeks back on one of those very rare instances when we didn't have the kids with us, and stopped in at the local Pontiac dealer. What caught my wife's eye was the Cadillac XLR out in front. We looked it over. Nice car, slick retractable hardtop, big V8. Nice interior too. But only two seats--not real good when you have kids.



So we took the G8 GT out for a spin. Sharp looking car on the outside. Gobs of torque. Nice sounds. But the damn interior looks like crap. I don't think I could buy one, but it would be fun. I really like the exterior styling.



Phins, if you had a cheap plastic flashlight, you wouldn't be looking like a hockey player.

Luckily its a small chip, I'd have been knocking down the dentists door this morning if it was a large chip.

G8 motor = made by ozzies. So it has marsupial goodness in it!

idk phins I think the vw tdi is pretty badass I drive them all the time there awsome oh don't feel too bad about your chipped tooth a few years ago I completely knocked out my front tooth with a air gun