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  #16  
Old 06-17-2002, 03:54 PM
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Bulletins for 1993 Mercedes Benz 300E (124 Chassis) L6-3199cc 3.2L DOHC (104)

95-0223 MAR 95 Recall - Wiring Harness Chafing/Shorting

I found the above one on Alldata, but I'm not sure if it is the main wiring harness or an internal harness. I'm not sure what the difference is or how you can even tell which harness is being mentioned.

Maybe I need to revise my opinion on the M119 harnesses being bad, as well.

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2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
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  #17  
Old 06-17-2002, 04:02 PM
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Paul,

See my last note - that's the same one Lebenz pointed out and it's not the wiring harness. I had showed that to the the shop supervisor at the dealership before someone pointed out that it wasn't the main engine wiring harness. Of course, all I got was the standard "there are no outstanding recalls on your vehicle sir" which is the same thing you will get at the 800 number in Montvale, NJ.
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  #18  
Old 06-17-2002, 04:20 PM
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The wiring harness recall for 94-95 E320 posted on AllData is for the harness that runs behind the passenger-side sheetmetal footrest under the carpeting.

The right footpad on this piece site right up against or on a primary harness that feeds wires to a number of different places, including the airbag.

The fix was to check this location, reposition the harness, and add some foam padding to that right footpad.

No mention of recall for main engine harness.
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  #19  
Old 06-17-2002, 05:13 PM
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I am not sure on how MBUSA is handling this problem, but reading about this problem on this site I politely asked my M.B. service advisor if something has been done about it on my cars.

He showed me the work orders for replacing all wiring harnesses on my 104 engines. The work was done while doing routine oil changes and nobody notified me about it, it was just done - no charge.

By the way, the A/C evaporator has not yet died on my W140, and the service advisor told me when asked about it: "don't worry, M.B. honors a seven year no-cost to the owner replacement warranty on W140 evaps, yours should fail before time is up".

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E320T, 1995
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  #20  
Old 06-17-2002, 05:56 PM
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Quote:
Originally posted by A. Rosich

By the way, the A/C evaporator has not yet died on my W140, and the service advisor told me when asked about it: "don't worry, M.B. honors a seven year no-cost to the owner replacement warranty on W140 evaps, yours should fail before time is up".
Your '98 should've been safe from the wiring harness problem - they did that too?

Re: Evaporator - that has to be a dealership policy only. The labor on that job is easily double a head gasket job and all MBNA offered was the goodwill service performed at the dealer's discretion, which makes it a non-MB policy.
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  #21  
Old 06-17-2002, 06:13 PM
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I found that the damage to the primary harness (93 500E) was most easily demonstrated/diagnosed by going to the injectors and sliding the boot up and off the injector cap. This exposes the wires to view, and in this case, they were thoroughly cracked.

The "crumbled to dust" was not in evidence except for one section where the outer jacket (the stuff which Andy has cut away in the first photo of this thread) was torn. Inside that tear, the inner insulation wasn't cracked, it was entirely absent. Two bare wires.

I would hypothesize that the jacket provides some protection where it's intact, but once the jacket gives and exposes the cracking of of the insulation inside, the inner insulation powders away quickly.

s/b
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  #22  
Old 06-17-2002, 08:42 PM
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Quote:
Originally posted by seacoast_benz
The "crumbled to dust" was not in evidence except for one section where the outer jacket (the stuff which Andy has cut away in the first photo of this thread) was torn. Inside that tear, the inner insulation wasn't cracked, it was entirely absent. Two bare wires.s/b
that's exactly how it was on mine. when my mechanic showed it to me i thought to myself "how the heck did that happen?". they wanted to paint the exposed wires with liquid insulator but i stopped them and told them to just get a new harness.
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  #23  
Old 06-17-2002, 10:31 PM
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>they wanted to paint the exposed wires with liquid insulator but i stopped them and told them to just get a new harness.

Joe, I think you absolutely made the right decision on that one. Good instincts.

When the inside insulation starts decaying that badly, I can't imagine any way that one could treat it with spot fixes. There were places on this harness where the outer jacket looked perfect, but the wire sheaths inside were completely toast.

Anyone proposing a patch solution would have had to slit open every jacket in the harness, from end to end, simply in order to find out where the liquid needed to be applied.

And the repaired product still wouldn't have been up to factory spec for reliability and durability. Dr. Murphy says that when a component lets you down, it'll be on the proverbial dark rainy night in the middle of nowhere. Much better to spend a few bucks at the shop in the warm daylight and know that you solved it for good.

s/b
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  #24  
Old 09-15-2002, 04:32 PM
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Bad wiring harness

Was driving around with exposed wires like that a fire hazard?
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  #25  
Old 09-15-2002, 05:44 PM
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Does anyone know the reference # for the Technical Service Bulletin?

I have a subscription to ALLDATA but cannot seem to find the wiring harness TSB
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  #26  
Old 09-15-2002, 06:21 PM
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If you are looking for the TSB for your S320, you may not find it.

It turns out the TSB that I posted is not for the engine wiring harness. It's for a wiring harness that I guess is under the floor mat.

This surely wasn't an issue in the W140's.

MB still to this day has never admitted there was a problem with the wiring harnesses from '93-'95, even though some dealers have replaced them under a "goodwill" warranty.
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2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
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1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".
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  #27  
Old 09-15-2002, 06:24 PM
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I guess that's why I can't find it....

Thanks

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