I'm looking at a 95 E320 wagon. $7500 with 88K miles. The owner says the head gasket has never leaked and thus is original. I haven't asked about the wiring harness. Question, where do I look for this harness to investigate myself? Is this a good deal or should I run away. The car has clearly been taken care of as many of these cars are pampered by their owners. Any advice and orientation would be appreciated.

I see no reason to run, could be a nice car, sounds like a nice car. Occasionally a harness is obviously bad, or obviously new, but more likely it will be unclear to a non-professional. Next step would be to ask, and take to a professional if necessary. Absent any real evidence that it's been replaced you're looking at about a $700 exposure - not really the end of the world. It's quite easy to install yourself.

If you suspect a harness, go to the thermostst housing and you will see a blue sensor..peel those wires back with your thumb and see if they crack or have brittle insulation.

I would also search this forum for a homemade code tool and go into the owner access code retrieve box with it [ in front of battery] .. That will tell you many things that you don't want to find out later.
I would also look at the right/rear of the head parting line from the block..that is where you will see oil seepage if the gasket is bad.
Pampered vehicles are nice finds, but these faults have nothing to with being prevented by pampering...they are a fault/weakness of that chassis. and one is more likely to have a problem with a low milage one b/c those faults have probaly not been addressed yet.

Here are all the code and that info for that chassis.

E320 16 PIN DTC Charts inc. pin 8, pin 14

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A Dalton

FWIW,,, my 95 has the original harness, in excellent condition,,, original head gasket, though I am starting to see a wee bit of seepage where Arthur describes,,, and the original A/C evaporator. Have replaced quite a few other items, but it was money well spent I believe. Still love the car though, with all the issues.

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

On the harness issue , I have read and heard that the issue was resolved on E320 chassis after 6/95, but that is only what I read here somewhere and have never had anyone verify it.
So , that is an open question ...and altogether possible..
I think MB DOC has the exact inclusive dates.

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A Dalton

Pete, are you sure about this, i.e. are you the original owner? It just seems implausible that a 95 would have an excellent original harness.

Yep,,, I saw a date on the harness of 1995,,,, and I have cut it apart in a few places and it is still perfect.

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

The date of manufacture for the bad harness in my '95 E320 isn't readable, but the date for the drawing is and it is 1993.

The 320 was built in 02-95, as was coincidentaly the SL,,, both at the Stuttgart plant. I found a tag on the harness of the 320 that has 05-95 on it.

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

That would indicate to me that your harness has been changed, and probably was done as a TSB Campaign right from the Dealer.
That would explain the good condition of your harness.

A note on these harnesses is that they are in fact made by design to degenerate with time , which is why they used bio-degradeable insulation in the first place..the problem is they screwed up on the degeneration time element b/c they did not correctly compute the extreme engine enviroment[ mostly heat generation] in that design.
So, their screw-up was not in the idea ..but rather in the wrong design parameters, which caused pre-mature degeneration. All of the new cars use some form of bio-degradable materials. But the wiring is supposed to outlast the main mechanicals/milage of the cars design. It this case , it wasn't even close............Blame may even lie with the Distributor/Manufacturer Benz contracted for that harness..no one is admitting to anything, but we know that all E320s with the early harness had, or are going to have, the problem.
It is not IF, it is only When.

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A Dalton

Wow that question generated some commentary. Thanks much. Well I bought the car. This thing looked like it came off the showroom floor. It was sitting on carpet in the gentlemens garage. The carpet was cleaner than my living room. I checked the wiring that came off the thermostat housing. It looked OK, but there wasn't alot to look at. He is the original owner and that was the original harness. I figured the way this looks to have been cared for worst case I am in for a harness and maybe a head gasket so I am out 10K for the entire car worst case. I can live with that for one that I am comfortable with the history and care. Thanks for the advice. This is my second MB, it's not a diesel like the other one but still a nice car. I do love the clatter of the 300D however!

Sorry, another note, the door sticker says 9/95 as the manufacture date to add to the discussion ongoing about the late 95 vs earlier harness' Don't know if that helps much as I can't see alot of the wiring but it looks decent from what I can see and it is original as I mentioned.

My (European) E280 was built in November 1995, and the harness just disintegrated.

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'96 W124 E280T