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Old 09-20-2002, 10:55 PM
suginami suginami is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Southern California, U.S.A.
Posts: 8,538
Quote:
Originally posted by Jackd
I am wondering why you.re thinking about doing this job.
Not ALL 320E will have problems with the harness. Not all e320 will need a complete replacement if any problems surface.
Why don,t you wait to have some sign of weakness in this area before looking for solution for a problem that may never exist.
jackD
Man, do I disagree. The insulation used on the wiring harness was defective. They are all bad since all wiring harnesses used the same insulation (between '93 and '95).

It is heat that breaks down the insulation, so age, not mileage, is going to determine the rate of failure of the insualation.

Further, if the problem hasn't developed on its own (driveability problems, CE light problems, misfiring, etc.), it is when the wiring harness gets handled, i.e. the head gasket is changed, that the insulation flakes off badly, causing the wires to short, and taking a lot of other components with it that cost much more than the wiring harness itself.

I say it all the time... go ahead and do a search with the words "wiring harness" or "engine wiring harness" and you'll read dozens and dozens of posts of unhappy owners with thousands of dollars in repairs because when the harness acted up, it took a lot of other parts with it.

It's not a harmless problem, like the leaky evaporators on early model W124 and early W140's. When and if the evaporators fail, the only thing that happens is your a/c stops working.
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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".
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