Hello to all. I humbly approach the Forum as a new guy. I just signed up. Yup, I'm a newbie. Never been a member of a Forum. I am a diesel mechanic of 22 years. I've worked on everything from farm tractors to over the road tractor trailers to crash/foam trucks at airports. Now, over the past 2 years, I've been diligently caring for and LOVING a "95 E300D that I picked up for my wife with exactly 199,820 miles. Now, the car has 264K. I read on here about the wiring harness insulation being made out of recycled plastic, and deteriorating over time. How true. I couldn't afford a new engine harness for the OM606, so after seeing all the bare sections of wire and having troubles with gauges not reading correctly and cruise control acting up, I removed the harness, and built a new one with all new wire, using the original plugs (soldered and heat shrinked). Now, fast forward 1.5 years, my daughter started driving the car. This is a great first car. Not too big, but heavy, slow, and safe. She called me last week and told me that there was smoke coming from the A/C vents. She was 2 miles from home, so I told her to turn off everything electrical and drive home and shut it down. 3 minutes later, she called again. Now the smoke was thick, and black, still pouring out, and getting worse, with the engine shut down. Still on the phone, "now there is fire coming from the dash, from the climate control switches." Helplessly, 34 miles from home, I told her to grab the garden hose, and destroy the fire. The wife went ahead and called the fire dept, and they came and finished it off. The damage is done. fortunately, just the center of the dash and windshield are destroyed, but I'm sure that when I start digging, I'll find much more. My question is, have there been reports of this happening to these cars? I've googled around and haven't found anything about this happening to others. I really want to repair this because I really do love the car, and otherwise, it's in really great shape. Any thoughts or info would be appreciated. Oh, lastly, teenage drivers are expensive to insure, so we put the car on liability only 2 months ago. I'm out one beautiful Mercedes.

Did it still have the factory radio? Or had anyone messed around with the wiring in the dash to install an aftermarket one at all? Sounds like something shorted.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

sorry for the trouble,but some Mercedes and BMWs do go up in smoke.Glad the fire didn't evolve any more.Automovtive wire has to be rated for underhood heat too,when wiring.I know how it is not being able to afford something.Blame it on Ma Benz,and her stupid wire.

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran, deutschland deutschland uber alles uber alles in der welt

Hey guys. still had the 'ol becker stereo. never got around to changing it because it sounded really nice, and I didn't want to mess with the factory amps and the 2 ohm speakers. when I re-built the engine harness, I used 14 guage silicone insulated wire. thanks for the replies.

So here's my thought:

HVAC blower pulls too much current, strip fuse fails to pop, heat travels through power cable to flammable parts of under dash area, poof.

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77' 300D, "Cartman" SOLD @ 150K (didn't know what I had)
83' 300SD, "The Superdon" 325k+ @ 28mpg
95 E320 wagon, "Millennium Falcon" 231k+ @ 24 Mpg
95 E300D, "Sherley" 308k @ 33.69 Mpg, currently anticipating a head
99 Suzuki Intruder "Trudy" @ 45 mpg

Chalk this one up to @&$# happens, especially to old cars (especially those with wiring issues).
If it's any consolation, it's not limited to MB: my Dad's '84 Monte Carlo SS immolated itself after 20+ years of faithful service (and 3 boys).

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Prost!

I had the "massive smoke coming out the vents" situation on my car several years ago which turned out to be the leads to the blower motor had fried, for no apparent reason. The smoke was insulation going up. Very fortunately for me, when I opened up the blower bay later, I was able to resolder leads and I'm still driving with that blower.

Hope you can salvage your car, the 95 E300D is a keeper!

Rgds,
Chris W.
'95 E300D, 402K

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Objects in closer are mirror than they appear.