I did absolutely all maintenance on time and no cost was ever spared to get everything just right. I have “perfect books” to prove it, but my car still leaks just about everything from everywhere and of course it also needs the wiring harness. Sure it will last, since I will most likely keep paying to keep it running, but it is just a bunch of s**t that these cars need so much at only 93K. Mine is still kind of cool somehow and it is gorgeous, but it leaks just about everything from just about everywhere.

Looks good in side profile, but leaks from all over the place

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I just couldn't give up on my 1995 E320.

I think it might be like always going back to that same bad relationship with an ex girlfriend.
You feel you love them too much, or you are just too stupid to know any better.



Flickr slideshow of my 1995 E320
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24145497@N06/sets/72157616572140057/

You're clearly confusing a safety defect with an environmental issue. Priority number one when building a car is safety. Car manufacturers can't cloak a design defect in the name of environmental friendliness. To my knowledge there were no US regulations in place mandating biodegradable wiring insulation in the early to mid '90's. MB made this engineering decision unilaterally, which ironically is probably doing more harm to landfills had they not.

I doubt that your opinion was influenced at all by the fact that your wiring harness was replaced at no cost to you, huh?

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-Paul-
'01 E430, Sport 72,000 mi
'98 C280, 126,500 mi

I have my old wiring harness in my garage. Each bit of movement just makes it fall apart even more. If anyone wants to take action, call me.

There is a DIY article here on how to replace the wiring harness. It has step by step instructions and pictures. I can't recall for which engine it was. It seems like a fairly straight-forward thing to do, not any more difficult than changing plug wires.



Can you please give a link to the DIY article you mentioned. My 600 just hit the shop yesterday. Today they told me I need the harness and about $5,000 to fix it. WOW! I need some alternatives.

I guess you guys haven't heard the "normal wear and tear" excuse that MB is using to keep from having to admit guilt that they screwed up big time.Another thing..what is this story about the dealers were paying to replace the harnesses up until 3 years ago.Not in Dallas.The only owners getting any assistance were original buyers of the cars.No one else.When I approached both dealerships in Dallas about this issue I was told that since my SL320 was 10 years old and because I was the 2nd owner,that there was nothing MB could do.What has either one of these reasons got to do with defective,dangerous wiring harnesses.Unless a lawyer starts a class action lawsuit representing all owners of the 1992-1995 Mercedes cars,nothing will happen.BTW where is Ralph Nader when you need him? I have replaced 5 harnesses so far with defective insulation.The funny thing is that MB was more than willing to take my money for the new harnesses.But when you want customer service,everyone disappears.I recommend that every owner who has harness problems write to NHTS and put in a complaint.I did last month.Maybe after 1000 complaints the government will force a recall.

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/defect/defectsearch.cfm

A little update:

As of March 28, 2006, I had found, and snail-mailed, a total of 148 NHTSA wiring harness complaints to the NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigations (ODI), in three separate mailings.

This is far above the the original 62 complaints I first mailed the NHTSA's ODI back in July of last year (which did indeed catch the collective attention of the ODI). Just today, I found and emailed to ODI an additional 15 complaints. So the new total is 163 registered complaints.

Included in today's newly found 15 complaints, was a 1996 "C Class" wiring harness complaint. This is the third 1996 complaint I have found (2 "C" Class, 1 "E" Class) ---so that makes a trend.

Late last year, I found enough 1991 model year complaints to include that year as well. I have sent this new information to ODI, and updated my web site as well:

MERCEDES-BENZ 1991-1996 ENGINE WIRING HARNESS DEFECT NHTSA COMPLAINT SUMMARIES

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MERCEDES-BENZ 1991-1997 ENGINE WIRING HARNESS DEFECT NHTSA COMPLAINTS

Some of the posts in this thread tell of MBUSA's customer service people saying they never heard of any problem with this or that. I contacted them last year about cracks in the top of my '98 E300's dashboard and yes, I was told the same thing...they never recall hearing of any complaints from any owners pertaining to cracked dashboard covers ever...imagine that, I am the first owner to tell them their plastic dash covers crack sometimes...

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

I doubt if anyone will have any luck with the NTSB unless the wiring harness causes a fire or an accident (in other words, I hope no one will have any luck).

I don't buy the "normal wear and tear" defense on this. I can take cheapsh** wire from Radio Shack, bury it underground for 20 years, dig it up, wash it off, and it will look and work great. I routinely see wiring on cars 20-30 years old in the junkyards with hoods up that is flexible and looks completely usable.

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86 560SL
With homebrew first gear start!
85 380SL
Daily Driver Project

http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl/mercedes.htm

Very true!
That was before all the Treehuggers got involved, especially in Europe, since the early 1990's.
Do we have standards in North America, that mandate a certain portion of a vehicle has to be recyclable?

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2007 C 230 Sport.

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What is interesting, is that in talking to one of the NHTSA engineers currently investigating our defective harnesses, he made no mention of "biodegradability" being at all responsible for the wires disintegrating inside our harnesses. He simply attributed it to Mercedes-Benz making one of those poor manufacturer's decisions about where to shave costs. He said it was remarkable/unfortunate that Mercedes chose low-cost (cheap) wire in such a critical location.

My personal opinion is that the "biodegradability-green" story is, if anything, MB company disinformation slipped out as a "We were just trying to do the right thing for the environment" excuse for their blunder.

Strife, please read the below list; there have been a number of suspect fires that have been, and or could be, attributed to the defective MB harnesses:

http://sites.google.com/site/infoage1/mercedes-benz-1991-1996-engine-wiring-harness-defect

Even without the fires, note the recent Nissan recall concerning their Altimas with symptoms nearly identical to the most common complaints of the failing MB harnesses. And further note: the Nissan recall came as a result of only 29 NHTSA complaints:

MB Wiring Harness Failure

As to the age question: Yes, it does make a recall harder to effect, but certainly not impossible. Witness the recent recall of millions of early to mid nineties Fords and Toyotas:

MB Wiring Harness Failure

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MERCEDES-BENZ 1991-1997 ENGINE WIRING HARNESS DEFECT NHTSA COMPLAINTS

I had a German friend visit earlier this month and mentioned the deteriorating wire harness issue to him and the suspected culpability of German "green laws". He said that this was nonsense as any such initiative would have to be advertised and voted on by the people and this did not occur (he was educated as a lawyer but has never practiced law). In light of this and further thought, I would be willing to bet that it was simply some combination of awarding the contract to the lowest bidder, poor design, weight reduction and German arrogance. One has only to look at the rear window regulators on 126, 124 and 210 vehicles to see these principles in practice. At least with the harness the problem can be corrected by purchasing a new and improved harness---no such luck with the window regulators and numerous other defective MB part groups. Mark

Then you better do some research on the subject.
I know for a FACT ( not suspicion ), of environmental laws that were implemented in Germany in the early 90's, whereas all car manufacturers are required to make their vehicles more recyclable-friendly.
It started with a small percentage of components and escalated every following year.
There are very stiff penalties for not complying.
These laws were also the reason why we ended up with "unpainted" bumpercaps, until the switch to waterbased paint was completed.

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2007 C 230 Sport.

Manny wrote: "I know for a FACT ( not suspicion ), of environmental laws that were implemented in Germany in the early 90's, whereas all car manufacturers are required to make their vehicles more recyclable-friendly."

I remember reading about it at the time in Auto Motor und Sport. But you should re-read what I wrote: "In light of this and further thought, I would be willing to bet that it was simply some combination of awarding the contract to the lowest bidder, poor design, weight reduction and German arrogance."

I didn't present my opinion as a researched fact. It IS a fact that Germany and other countries passed laws regarding the labelling of vehicle parts (just look at the back of every 80's and on MB plastic part which clearly identifies the type of plastic used) in order to reliably separate material types and avoid mixed stream wastes. To my knowledge, the German greenies did not legislate the material types that would be acceptable for use as automotive wire insulation (although nothing ever surprises me) and if they did, was this law repealed to permit the sale of the non-green replacement wire harnesses? Also, wouldn't every vehicle sold in Germany be required to use the same defective wire? Similarly, wouldn't a prudent manufacturer who sells vehicles in Germany be forced to use two different wire harnesses, one green and defective for Germany and the other non-green but good for all other countries? Again, stranger things have happened but this doesn't make sense to me. I suppose it is possible that Germany prohibited the plastic of choice for wire insulation and the wire suppliers simply chose a permitted but inferior plastic at the time and have now begun using a permitted and performing plastic. Frankly, whether cost concerns, green laws or aliens caused the problem the fact is that the wiring harnesses are defective, frequentlly create an unsafe condition and cost owners a great deal of money to replace. MB's insistence on blaming their problems on this or that doesn't cure the problem for the consumer---it simply serves to erode their customer base and drive their long-time supporters to other marques. It is also my opinion that it is way past time for MB to stop the denial and excuses in this and many other areas and get back to being the manufacturer (IMO) of the best vehicles in the world. Mark

I have found that filing a legitimate complaint with a State agency (for starters) has been quite effective. I like using the State Atty General's office to get results. Normally, they forward your complaint to the business in question with their letterhead.

I usually end up doing this when I am not getting satisfaction from a business.

hookedon210s, excellent post.

There is an interesting post on the MBCA board whereas the poster claims that MBUSA is now admitting to some degree of defect, for some numbers of harnesses--not that they plan to do anything about it. Also, the poster notes that MBUSA is still being incredibly slippery, shifting and evasive in how it answers customer complaints regarding the wiring harness defect. Anyway, if true, it seems to agree with what we believe: That this isn't an "all things green" argument.

More simply, Mercedes made a serious mistake when they decided to hit the low-bid on these harnesses. That MB refuses to own up to its mistake, is where the problem is.

"Montvale denied everything to me as well ... then acknowledged the defect ... then said they only repair defects where/when known ... then said they only repair known defects based upon volumes (minimum of 5 repairs) ... then (after showing them the NHTSA files) said they only repair known defects on volume repairs, when other criteria was met. In essence, it was suggested that the wiring harnesses were defective, but only when supplied by SOME suppliers (uh - huh)."

http://mbca.cartama.net/showpost.php?p=66323&postcount=56


MERCEDES-BENZ 1991-1996 ENGINE WIRING HARNESS DEFECT NHTSA COMPLAINT IMAGES

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MERCEDES-BENZ 1991-1997 ENGINE WIRING HARNESS DEFECT NHTSA COMPLAINTS