I was thinking about peterdannock 's collection of Zoom Zom anecdotes and realized I hadn't read any about the tools and maintenance.
In hour 12 of a 16 hour drive, the big, red van was quiet. Three kids were asleep on a mattress in the cargo area and the adults were quietly watching the windshield gobble up the reflectors in the road. All was clear at 60 mph heading north.
Suddenly. A bright red light appears behind the steering wheel. The power disappears from under the accelerator. A message, in the same red: "TURN OFF ENGINE IMMEDIATELY!"
I'm just north of Vancouver, Washington. It's 12:30 am. The engine in the van is dying. I pull over to the shoulder immediately and shut off the engine. I'm freaking out a little. Not because anybody was in danger, I just didn't know what was happening.
I call triple A and because I have the plus package, we get towed 100 miles to the nearest Mercedes dealer. I call a childhood buddy who now inhabits this town. He comes immediately.
It turned out, we didn't have the $60 oil-filter wrench that would have enabled us to tighten the filter to factory specs. We got close. We got 12 hours of driving in.
Oil leaked. Sensors lit up. Support was called.
To fix the problem, I paid for a dealer oil change and purchased the proper tool for home maintenance. Out of pocket expense, $140. Midnight, SpyHunter oil-slick story, priceless.
peterdannock