First update is on the CL500, and I continued my previous investigation into the rough idling by changing the fuel filter and fuel pump on Sunday 21st July.
These are both located on the underside of the C215 chassis Mercedes, and are quite easy (if a little messy) to replace.
Fuel filter:

Fuel pump:

They are located here:

Released, clamped pipes, and changed them over, spilling lots of brown looking fuel in the process...



With all that back together, the car does seem to run better, and the idle is fine when cold, but when it heats up the idle gets rough again... so it needs more investigation.
On a positive note - the oil leaks seem to be solved!!! - no smoke at all and the floor is clean under the engine after several weeks. The ABC is also behaving very well, as there was at one point 3 weeks between engine starts and none of the struts appeared to drop at all.
So that's all the work that got done that weekend, as we had a sickly Spencer and had to take care of him...
On the Tuesday of that week I had the day off, and we visited the local "Bug Park" with my sister and her family (who are visiting from Australia).


Aston and Spencer were not really that impressed by the Spiders and bugs there, and preferred the cool playground, and Aston spent hours on these pedal go carts. Very good for his leg muscles so I was pleased to see him enjoy them so much (we were previously advised his chemotherapy weakened his leg muscles, so I am always keen for him to do things that strengthen them). He was on these karts for most of the day, and he could barely walk that evening he had been peddling so much!

So then that took us to the weekend just gone. My sister and her tribe had caught their flight home to Australia, so we had a weekend free before my next sister (who also lives in Australia) arrives for a UK holiday with her family too.
Lindsey was out at an RAF airshow with the boys on Saturday, they had a great time




But I had to do a job first, fix the washing machine!
The control knob had failed, so I bought a replacement online and fitted it - along with the board with all the buttons on too, as they came as a set.


I've repaired this twice now, and it's lasted us over 10 years... I am very pleased with it!

So with that done, I could go back to cars.... lots to do!
...there is more coming shortly....