I got my answer. thanks

Everyone was saying that Mb covers the wiring harness up to 125,000 miles. I just had my 95,000
miles tune up but not with a dealer. My independent shop told me that I might need new wiring harness on my next service. What if I go beyond the 125,000 will they still cover part of the cost for a new wiring harness?

That's what my tech finally replaced (as well as the wiring harness). He said it was an FHM box - not terribly descriptive. But the car runs better now, as far as the idle goes. And the warm start is fine. The cold start, however, still needs a push on the gas pedal.

I mentioned Benzmac's idea of the throttle actuator to him, and he said that he had checked that already, that it was okay. He said he could try replacing other things on the car, but he knows I want to sell it and not sink a ton of money into it, so he said it would be cost prohibitive at this point. He suggested I try to sell as-is.

He said, "Frankly, I've NEVER seen a Mercedes like this one before." (as far as the problems it has)

He showed me the old wiring harness - unbelievable. The insulation literally crumbled in my hands, like it was over 50 years old.

The kicker to all this? After $1422 worth of repairs, I'm driving the car home the same day I picked it up, and white smoke begins to pour from the exhaust. I brought it back into him expecting the worst news, a leaking head gasket and a warped head. But he said it's not coolant that's burning, maybe (hopefully) some transmission module that lets the trans oil get combusted if it goes bad. An easy fix, he says.

Yeah, tell it to my credit card. I'm sure I simply got a bad car. But I've had enough now, and I want out.

Your mechanic sounded like he's in one of those Spin a Win show.
A guessing game that really gonna hurt your pocket. A lot of maybes
on the side. I'm not saying that he does'nt know what his doing.
Something for you to think about..

Based on the advice of this and one other threads, I asked MB to replace the wiring harness to correct the "check Engine light" and code 19. The 94 E420 had nearly 95,000 miles on it at the time. Mercedes approved it under the secret warranty and it was replaced for free. It solved everything. The car does not record any check engine codes anymore, and the car has never ran so well since I purchased it at 5 years old. I guess it has been a problem all along. MB had thought I needed a new computer at one point, but the wiring harness replacement has solved that also. The car now has 115,000 miles on it.

If you are having any troubles with your 94 E420, don't hesitate to enact this secret warranty.

When Benzmac talks, ya better listen. I agree,I've never replaced the idle computer on one of these, even the fuel injection computer is pretty rare. Your mechanic has not even suggested what Benzmac is suspecting, which is the throttle actuator, sometimes called the throttle motor. The most common reason I have seen to replace the throttle actuator is an unsteady idle ("hunting" as we call it). The MAF (mass airflow sensor) is also highly suspect in my book too, the mechanic should be able to check it's reading using a scanner.
Gilly

__________________
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Would I be able to use the secret warranty on my 94 E320?
What secret password did you use for the dealer to know that I want them to replace the wiring harness at no cost? I just don't wanna go thru what I've experienced with my C280. Cost me $1400.!!!. By the way I'm the second owner and would the warranty still stand? Thanks for all your input....

What I meant by "secret", is that they don't seem to broadcast it. They were asking for $1300+ from me at an MB dealer, until I found out on one of these threads that there was a service bulletin on it, and that MB had extended the warranty to 100,000 miles on this item. I confronted the MB dealer about this bulletin and extended warranty. As a result, they said they would look into it and call MB (whatever that means), and after a day or so, the dealer said that MB had approved the repair under warranty. I've been in Florida for the last couple years, so I'm not sure if the heat contibuted to the wiring harness problem.

The improvement in overall acceleration etc, was noticeable by both me and my wife. I was the second owner and bought the car with 40,000 miles on it. Unrelated, I also put a superchip (Orlando company) in it, about a year prior to the repair. I would also recommend the chip if you interested in stronger acceleration. Also, this car chews up pirelli P6000 sport veloce's so I have changed to Michelin Pilots (special order from costco). The Pirellis were separating on the inside after less than a year. I do like to use the acceleration, but they shouldn't disintegrate.

Let me jump on the bandwagen. I will second and third Donnie's recommendations. I am the proud owner of two EA/CC/ISC controllers due to stubborn following of controller codes. And I know better.

I almost always ignor controller codes. They are almost always a commmunications problem either with their inputs or with the scanner.

As to the more basic question that evolved here: do I believe my technician? In this case no/yes. he was wrong about the controller but he ate it. That's part of the job description. If a technicain isn't spending great deals of time on this or a couple other boards there is almost no chance he has a fighting chance with these problems. Ninety-nine percent of the independents are not tool equiped to deal with the electronics of a 93 and newer MB. Of those equipped (such as dealers and some independents), it requires the experience of thousands of technicians to have a chance on precise diagnostics of throttle assys and control units. Intermittants are almost impossible at times. In dealers many of the best techs are saying give me waterpumps and stick the new guy with the time wasters.

I have often thought about stating that we are not capable of doing intermittants and sending them elsewhere. I said above that its part of the job description. As i get older I see less and less responsibility for wasting unpaid for time on other peoples problems. As was stated above one tech spent hours and then it was an OVP. Should he have known and not been paid as happened?

Our bodyshop brought us a 2001 CDI New Beetle on Friday with an overheating problem and a fan that worked only with A/C. one of my better techs (who has probably never worked on a VW) got the assignment as the normal VW tech was too busy. It took 10 minutes of my time to explain the stupid wiring diagrams VW uses to the tech. It then took him a half hour to assemble the picture of fan control and then about another half hour to locate the components and to find the fuse that was burned out. Since this job is an internal one its easy to pay the tech the two hour electrical diagnosis charge. My bodyshop partner slaped his hand to his forhead on finding the problem as he hates to pay the charges when he feels his assembly man should have caught that. Most discussions on this site would cry foul at such charges for a fuse.

My tech and any tech worth contracting deserves to be paid for his time. After the repairs is not the time to make judgements as to whether he used his time appropriately. It is up to those contracting to decide whether or not to trust; and when trust is given the tech deserves to be paid.

Try telling your doctor that since his testing didn't find the illness that his time wasn't used properly, so one should pay less. Fortunately for our health, doctors are paid like bodymen not automotive technicians.

__________________
Steve Brotherton
Continental Imports
Gainesville FL
Bosch Master, ASE Master, L1
33 years MB technician

I didn't find this out until it was too late. The secret password is
"Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz" (yeah, there is such a word =>)

__________________
joE
1993 300e-2.8 - gone now <sigh>
"Do not adjust your mind, it's reality that's malfunctioning"
http://banners.wunderground.com/bann...L/Key_West.gif

So you if I use your such a word with a stealership, you think they understand and would reply also in German? :p

[QUOTE]Originally posted by stevebfl
Let me jump on the bandwagen. I will second and third Donnie's recommendations. I am the proud owner of two EA/CC/ISC controllers due to stubborn following of controller codes. And I know better.

I almost always ignor controller codes. They are almost always a commmunications problem either with their inputs or with the scanner.

As to the more basic question that evolved here: do I believe my technician? In this case no/yes. he was wrong about the controller but he ate it. That's part of the job description. If a technicain isn't spending great deals of time on this or a couple other boards there is almost no chance he has a fighting chance with these problems. Ninety-nine percent of the independents are not tool equiped to deal with the electronics of a 93 and newer MB. Of those equipped (such as dealers and some independents), it requires the experience of thousands of technicians to have a chance on precise diagnostics of throttle assys and control units. Intermittants are almost impossible at times. In dealers many of the best techs are saying give me waterpumps and stick the new guy with the time wasters.

I have often thought about stating that we are not capable of doing intermittants and sending them elsewhere. I said above that its part of the job description. As i get older I see less and less responsibility for wasting unpaid for time on other peoples problems. As was stated above one tech spent hours and then it was an OVP. Should he have known and not been paid as happened?

Our bodyshop brought us a 2001 CDI New Beetle on Friday with an overheating problem and a fan that worked only with A/C. one of my better techs (who has probably never worked on a VW) got the assignment as the normal VW tech was too busy. It took 10 minutes of my time to explain the stupid wiring diagrams VW uses to the tech. It then took him a half hour to assemble the picture of fan control and then about another half hour to locate the components and to find the fuse that was burned out. Since this job is an internal one its easy to pay the tech the two hour electrical diagnosis charge. My bodyshop partner slaped his hand to his forhead on finding the problem as he hates to pay the charges when he feels his assembly man should have caught that. Most discussions on this site would cry foul at such charges for a fuse.

My tech and any tech worth contracting deserves to be paid for his time. After the repairs is not the time to make judgements as to whether he used his time appropriately. It is up to those contracting to decide whether or not to trust; and when trust is given the tech deserves to be paid.

Try telling your doctor that since his testing didn't find the illness that his time wasn't used properly, so one should pay less. Fortunately for our health, doctors are paid like bodymen not automotive technicians. [/QUOTE ]

I totally agree that you should pay for time of the technician. However if brought in a vehicle and told him what going's on with the vehicle. don't you think as a technician for so many years you would be able to figure this out and a customer would be happy when he/she picked up the vehicle? Now if you did'nt fix the problem and yet you got charge for that much would you go back to them and tell them that the problem still exist? Would you spend another gran or so for another trial and error since you provided the initial information in regards to the problem of your vehicle? A doctor would not spend 10-12 yrs in med. school if he or she can't diagnose a patient. You can't compare a technician with a doctor. A doctor deals with human being while technician deals with machinery w/c is only made by man. just my 2 cents.

based on the years in training, why not? many techs on this board easily have those years of experience. here's what i think the difference is:

-government certification and licensure
-regulatory board and standards on practice
-liability

in spite of this many people have a distaste for doctors and their practices just as much as what has been expressed in this thread for auto techs. why even bother with that comparison? when i don't like a diagnosis from a doctor, i get a second opinion - sound familiar?

__________________
joE
1993 300e-2.8 - gone now <sigh>
"Do not adjust your mind, it's reality that's malfunctioning"
http://banners.wunderground.com/bann...L/Key_West.gif

I have met more than a few techs that I thought were more professional and more competant than any doctors I have seen.

Steve, Donnie and MBDOC have very difficult jobs. While medical techniques and diagnostic procedures evolve over the years the human body does not change too quickly. MB on the other hand introduces new vehicle systems every few years. The techs have to keep up with all of the changes - and they have to do it with almost no help from MB. Their customers expect them to get it right first time, every time. Few people seem to expect the same standard of service from their health care "professionals"

Just my .02

Tim

Hi,

Mine is a 1990, and is idling roughly. What do I replace first, the Icle speed control unit or the throttle actuator?

Best Regards,

Richard Colburn