95 E320 cooling problem?

Hi all,

I have a problem that I've posed in several other forums and so far no one can figure it out so I thought I would give it a try with everyone here.

I have a 95 E320 with 140k miles on it. My temp. gauge runs around the 100'C mark after the car is warmed up. I think I've got it narrowed down to either a faulty gauge or a faulty temp. sensor after replacing everything in the cooling system. What I need to help further my troubleshooting is an owner with a 95 E320 that has the 96 wiring harness on it. Mercedes did that shortly after the production of the 95's started. To quickly tell if you have the 96 wiring harness, look at the 2 sensors located near the thermostat housing, one will be a 4 pole sensor and one will be a single pole sensor. All prior wiring harness' had a 2 pole sensor which controlled the aux. fans and a single pole sensor that goes to the gauge in the car.

If you have a car like this or are knowledgelable about this setup please e-mail me with the resistance of the single pole sensor when cold (mine runs around 550ohms@70'F) and when hot (56 ohms on mine, 100'C on gauge). As some of you can see these figures in no way reflect what is stated in the service manual, so my guess is either I'm being sold the wrong temp. sensor or my gauge going bad on me.

Just so everyone knows why I think the engine is not running hot, I used a laser temp. sensor on my car and my wifes 2000 C230. Both cars had very similiar temperatures at the radiator and pretty much everywhere I pointed it, except her gauge reads around 82'C and mine is reading 100'.

Thanks in advance all,

Dale
jetforeman1@peoplepc.com

95 E320 w/140k miles
00 C230 Special Edition w/30K miles