wiring harness rot 95 e300d
 

i opened the wiring harness trey in the engine compartment today and found that the insulation on the wiring was cracked and separated on every wire in there. it amazing to me that anything works on the car.

does this "rot" go behind the firewall or is it safe to assume that splicing at the firewall would be an ok fix? also is there wiring diagrams available for this car?

thanks, hunt

No splicing needed. Purchase a new wiring harness, remove the intake manifold and remove the old, bolt in the new. It should be fine once it gets away from the engine heat.

The original harness was made with plastic covering that degrades over time, the engine heat and grime doesn't help. The wiring behind the fire wall might look better than that in the engine bay, but this is a known issue on this model and there is an upgraded harness available.

If you decide you want to purchase the new harness, email Phil with your VIN and he will locate the right one. About two years ago the price was about $400 IIRC.

On the harnesses I looked at brand new are over 1000 but that is for a gasser mind yoi..

anybody tried the spray on electrical tape products? might work well for a stopgap repair...
maybe mat over it with some fiberglass weave for heat resistance...