Hey, Randall, I owe you a word of thanks for having posted the breather hose part numbers in your article about doing the wire harness job.

My rationale for removing the unit was to inspect inside the TBA case, and to check inside the insulation of the cable bundle for cracked wiring. About to roll out of Starmark here, and if needed, I would rather them pay for a new TBA than out of pocket.

In this case, the unit is in *excellent* condition. I thought it must have been a warranty replacement, even though there is none listed on the MB-Net for this car, but no, it's the original 1993 unit.

I posted my results on this older thread, since it has photos by Neil of what a heat-damaged TBA looks like:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?threadid=49628&highlight=500e

The unit that Neil opened had visually obvious solder resin runs, and cracked wires on the circuits inside of the case.

This one has none of that going on. The only explanation I have is that this particular car seems to be the coolest-running 500E I have ever heard of -- it has never shown engine temps over 90C even in the hot high desert at 115F outside -- and since heat seems to be a big culprit in breaking down wire insulation and baking the solder joints, less heat is a good thing.

I have electrical contact enhancer liquid from CAIG Laboratories in the workshop, and I'm going to apply it in small quantities both inside the TBA case, and on the exterior cable terminations.

Still not sure if I should put a light synthetic lubricating oil on the shafts of the rotating parts inside the TBA body. They all seem to turn freely, but then again they're ten years old without having seen daylight.

s/b