W116, BENZ AID - COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Dear Friends!
I am an owner of MB 300SD 1982. Recently, the car presents disabling electrical issue which I hope to pin point eventually. There is a electrical surge somewhere under console ( I can hear climate control clicking) which drains all electric charge (battery). When it happens all my dashboard indicators go wild. Surprisangly, all fuses stay intact. I suspect it may be blower engine goes bad, but I am not sure. Anybody had this problem before?

A couple of years ago I installed the fuel boost pump sold on this site (DSE-COMAEBP) and the optional filter. Can failure of this pump result in fuel supply problems?

I ask because yesterday I developed the classic symptoms of a fuel supply problem: the car will start but runs rough and eventually stalls. I checked the boost pump filter, changed the main fuel filter and bled the air from the system, No change. I then ran diesel purge through the injectors and re-bled the air. No change.

I help a friend maintain her 1983 300TDT, and it is due for a transmission fluid & filter change. It has very recently been slipping when in "D" on an incline, such as at a stop sign at the top of a hill. It will just start rolling back. I will be changing the fluid & filter, and plan on using the Lucas additive as well. She has recently taken it to a couple different shops for some work to be done, and someone had apparently overfilled the transmission. I took out the excess with my mity-vac, but the performance remained the same.

My question is this:

What is your opinion of transmission flushes for these older MB auto trannies?

I had my valve cover off this weekend to adjust the valves. I decided to check the 'chain stretch' but am unsure of whether the pointer showing 5deg or 2deg. Also, I am unsure of what to do next, does the chain need to replaced (car has around 150k on it) or is this tolerable?

Here is a pic of the indicator on Flickr: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4018/4702434216_986910dcca_b.jpg

thanks