Is this a new wiring harness in my '95 E320?
 

The wrapping looks too uniform to be made by making up a harness from scratch but I don't know what a factory replacement looks like.

http://www.fototime.com/8E4F7B039BB83CC/standard.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/3E314159E3FB42F/standard.jpg

MB never made any that looked like that!

OK so it's not the original which is a good thing. And it's not a Mercedes replacement. Is that a bad thing? As bad as having the original harness on a 15 year old 200K mile model?

Mine looks a lot like that (sorry, no pics), but I don't know if it's the original or not. It sorta looks like someone taped every wire along the whole length on my 15 year old 200K wagon. My thinking is, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

I'd be a little more pro-active as I don't like to be stranded.

Maybe you can cut the tape wrapping off somewhere and see if the wires are new inside ... or take apart the connector @ the cam magnet and see what the wires look like in the black plastic.
That being said- people do repair them with new wire and it can work quite well.

Are you having any functional issues?

Michael

look near the battery....if it's been updated....there should be a tag on one of the main wires......

I'm not having any issues and I'll check for that tag.

The tag shall set you free.

You'll see it between the inner firewall and battery, just to the curbside of the HVAC blower box. It is a white sticker tag, with laser-printed lettering, the FD is fabrication date in DDMMYYYY format.

... or maybe they taped up over some frazzled wiring to hide it? :confused: I am not sure, I would hope this is NOT the case.

Like someone said, look for that tag or try to get a peek at some of the wires under it.

That would be my guess.

That's how the harness in all three of my '94/'95 cars looked, all were replacements.

come to think of it....that's the way mine looks in the 95

i have the tag, too.... replaced in 98

Neither originals or factory replacements look like that. They can have friction tape but not in the places that that one has friction tape, and the tape would be black not redish.

IIRC mine had black cloth tape everywhere, there was no other wire sheath used. Also, some cleaners will bleach the black dye from the cloth tape, and red/brown is one result of those cleaners.

The date-code shall set you free!