While putting in the baby seat I (re-)noticed the missing black plastic cover of the driver's-side rear seat belt track bolt. Put it on the list too!
On the way to the alignment place the car, whose low-fuel light was on, started sputtering. I pulled off the freeway and dumped in my 2-gallon can of diesel I'd brought along just in case. While turning around in the parking lot it became apparent that the motor mounts are indeed shot, as cornering resulted in huge changes in engine vibration. Anyone know if '87 300TD mounts are a good substitute? They look similar, and I have two down in the woods. With great difficulty I found the alignment place, which is tucked into an odd corner of town. They jacked up the car, and found that both right-side wheels had unacceptable levels of play in them. The front was caused by the steering idler, which had loosened up. The rear was a totally shot bushing in the forward linkage. I will need to fix these things, and reschedule. Drat! I wonder if these parts are any good on the parts car? On the freeway to the fuel stop the broken (but taped) wind deflector nearly blew off. Made a hell of a racket flapping against the roof of the car, nearly ruined my clothing. Spent the rest of the trip holding it down with my hand through the sunroof, it made shifting into fifth on the freeway rather interesting. -- Jim
