Every one of the Benz gasoline engines with the electronic accelerator/cruise/idle systems (the throttle by wire)has failing wiring insulation. Apparently Bosch got a bunch of low grade PVC wire and the stuff crumbles after a few years. I have looked at several recently after finding it in both actuators on My sl-600. An independent shop here in Houston had a basket full of 'cores' they had removed and were stocking--waiting for someone to start repairing them. The wiring is not available from Bosch or Benz. After getting a 'pin-out' wiring diagram it took me a couple of hours to make each new one.

Lot and lots of these things are failing (surging, throttle position errors, dead, etc.) and 'the fix' right now is replace them. Crappy wiring is the flaw.

So the main wiring harnesses on 140 and 129 cars are all crumbling, all the electronic throttle actuators are failing--sounds like a class action suit waiting to happen. When a $140,000 car has multiple wiring harnesses that fall apart in less than 7 years, something is badly wrong. These things are real safety hazards.

Has anyone heard of a class action yet?