1995 E320 wagon wiring harness and other questions

[benmack1]

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.

[deanyel]

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.

[Arthur Dalton]

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

[Pete Geither]

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.

[Arthur Dalton]

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.

[deanyel]

Originally Posted by Pete Geither

FWIW,,, my 95 has the original harness, in excellent condition,

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.

[Pete Geither]

Originally Posted by deanyel

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.

[Arthur Dalton]

What is the chassis Manufacture month??

[deanyel]

A date on the harness wouldn't be conclusive. I'd give odds that it isn't the original - unless you are the original owner and know for certain that it hasn't been replaced.

[nissanzx1]

These guys are giving you excellent advice.

I would just add that since these 2 major repairs haven't been done, just make sure that you are willing to spend the money on them when the time comes. The harness is now $900+ without labor, and the head gasket I would think has to be $2000+...

I have a '95 E320 with 78K and I think it might be one of the finest used car values out there. The thing is just built like a tank with nice fit and finish. It's been in storage for about a year because I need to do the wiring harness. Mine has rot to the point where you can drive the car and park it--come back 10 minutes later and it will not re-start occasionally. I have decided to spend my economic stimulus money on the harness

Good Luck,

-GH

[Arthur Dalton]

Originally Posted by Pete Geither

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.

Here is a copy of a post that shows where they should be checked..this is the first place they start b/c they are engine heat trapped here [ as well as the infamous plug connectors]

<<<

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thought I would chime in with my M104 wiring harness experience last summer. When I purchased the car ('95 E320 wagon) in July 2004, the usual places for detecting a defective harness all appeared sound (as in, the insulation was not brittle and quite intact). The car worked well and I thought I dodged the proverbial bullet; it worked well until last summer and we were a few hours in the state of Maine heading for Canada. The car started to miss as we encountered grades or needed to accelerate. Upon arrival at my destination in Nova Scotia, I accessed this very website and searched on the dreaded harness. I discovered that to thoroughly assess the condition of the harness, the cover between camshafts had to be removed. I felt the wires beneath the conduit and it was quite "crunchy". I carefully cut into a section of the conduit with an Exacto knife and discovered the insulation on the wires leading to a coil unit was either missing or quite fragmented. Not having the luxury of time to accurately determine the source of the "miss", I deemed a wiring harness replacement was necessary before further diagnosis could occur. The purchase price of a new, replacement harness from the dealer was on the north side of $1,000 (U.S.). The harness was replaced and the "miss" never occurred again. I failed to take not of the manufacture date on the replacement harness. One can only hope that MB did not continue to re-introduce the problem by supplying the defective harnesses to their parts inventory.
__________________ >>>>>

[deanyel]

Originally Posted by nissanzx1

The harness is now $900+ without labor

You could pay that if you want, or $1500 if you want, but it's still available for less. The list is now $925.

[Arthur Dalton]

A PS for the original poster.
The reason I mentioned the Code Tool is b/c a bad harness is usually coupled with several codes form the Pin 8 and Pin 14 modules on an E320.
[ HFM/Module ans EA/CC ISC modules]. It is kinda hard to start slitting open a harness before you own the car..,.... so this simple code test tool would give one some insight into what the computer memories have been monitoring and those modules are not the CE lamp Emmissions one ,but rather, the Engine Management ones..along w/ASR/CC/ABS, etc...
So, a nice tool box addition, if nothing else...

[JimFreeh]

We have a 95 E320 wagon with full service history (dealer only until we bought it in 2005) and the wiring harness is still original.

No wiring problems, so far.
Head gasket done at 98K, though.
Evaporator last fall @ 125K.

Wonderful car, I like it even better than the 87 300TD we had for 13 years.

Jim

[Arthur Dalton]

Do you happen to have that ones manufacture date?