Another purchase candidate - 93 300E

How can u tell if wiring harness/evap / head gasket done?

OMG, I got too many threads going on, getting confused what is what and for what candidate, lol.

Anyway, the 93 candidate I saw yesterday , I called for the VMI, thanks to the suggestions.

a. Evaporator - changed under warranty 2/97 27K miles
b. Head gasket - no record of service done under warranty (what I saw yesterday was NOT confirmation of head gasket work as it was way up high, thanks to the heads up to someone on here on the other thread).
c. Wiring harness - changed under warrany 1/99, 49K

So, worst case scenario, I have to do the head gasket, $1K... plus the $6.9K I am paying, so its already 7.9K (only $1k less than the other one that has had all done to it)... assuming they didn't do headgasket elsewhere and dealer has no record.

Evap? when they changed them under warranty, were they any better quality, or are they going to go anyway? Reason for question since it was changed like 60K miles ago...

thanks

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1995 E320 smoke silver / parchment

Hard to say on the evap...the original had aluminum cores and eventually leaked, warranting (expensive) replacement.

Many on this forum had copper replacements on their W124s, which have been trouble-free for the most part...had mine changed out in 1999 (under extended warranty) and it is still going strong w/o a recharge since.

Unless specified on the invoice, the only way you can tell is to pull the dash out and inspect (yeah, right!)...

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

Thanks... hopefully they did replace with the copper one. If done by Mercedes I guess we don't know if they would replace with the copper one or just pulled one of the old stock from the bin ... no prob... yeah, don't think I will be pulling the dash, lol

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1995 E320 smoke silver / parchment

Just because the '93 has an M104 engine does not mean that the head gasket will fail for sure. It might fail tomorrow or it might go forever.

If the evap was replaced, it is likely that a copper one was used, but there's no way that I know of to confirm this. Is there a replacement part number in the service history?

The later 124 cars are definitely nicer than the earlier cars IMHO. The head gasket problem is a down side, agreed, but there's never any guarantee about any used car. Things could just as easily happen to a 103 engine.

Don't dwell too much on history. Pay more attention to CURRENT condition of the vehicle.

Best of luck,

My guess is that if the head gasket is not leaking now, there is no way that it is original. If it is original, this car has broken a record for longest-lasting-original-head-gasket.

The new head gaskets have metal inserts that keep them from moving around which prevents them from leaking oil again.

The evaporator replacment is about a $2,000 job in itself (16.5 hours of labor plus the cost of the evaporator).

The wiring harness is about $500 plus 2.5 - 3.0 hours of shop labor.

Current condition is everything, and that '93 300E (3.2) looks immaculate in the pictures, and the mileage is low (for the year).

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".