How long is the usual life expectancy of an engine in a gasoline engine in an E320? Would you buy one with 120,000 or would you expect a lot of issues? I was thinking of buying a diesel wagon but can't deal with the slowness and oldness and think this would be a better fit but want to know if I would just be buying troubles. Thanks, Lance

I bought my wife's '95 E320 wagon a little over 6 years ago with 67K miles. We are just approaching 190K and the engine runs great with no appreciable oil consumption between 5K mile intervals. I had to replace the headgasket at around 120K miles and the wiring harness shortly after that and I think the water pump twice.

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Glen Tokuhara
Beauty & the Beast and the wagon that could!

The "usual" life expectancy will vary greatly depending on the care of the car. A well cared for 104 motor with 120k should be well within its half life - but the engine is a relatively small portion of the overall maintenance picture. You are likely to be much happier with such a car if you are a DIYer. Better yet would be to be a DIYer on an E420 - which has an even better motor with fewer congenital problems and an even longer life expectancy.

what was the problem with the wiring harness that you had to have it replaced?

Under pressure from environmentalists, MB tried to use a biodegradeable wire insulation. Unfortunately it degraded way to soon. See attached pictures. (one of engine wire harness, one of throttle actuator lead)

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So does that mean that if wire harness was repaired that it was repaired with something stronger and you won't have the problem again? Can you tell from looking at it whether it has been replaced or not?

The wire harness is usually not repairable, it has to be replaced. You can check the condition of the wire insulation by striping back the black fabric wire wrap on the wires that attach to the temperature sensors located on the top and or side of the thermostat housing. Sometimes you can also tell by looking carefully at the wire where it enters the temperature sensor connector plug(s). You can also check the wire harness part number tag although it is a bit difficult to find. It is usually located on the wire harness where it runs across the bottom drivers side of the battery area. If you can find it, Phil at FASTLANE PARTS (sponser of this web board) can tell you if it is made with the new non biodegradeable insulation. If so, you should not have any more problems. Some of these harnesses (and also ac evaporators) were replaced by the dealer under warranty, This warranty replacement seems to have been more common in cars that began life in the Southern States, probaly because the warmer climate caused earlier failures. A friendly and helpful dealer service department can look up the VIN number to see if this has been done. There is really no way to tell by looking if the throttle actuator has been replaced. Only proof would be maintenance receipts or partial disassembly.