96 e300d
 

I am in the middle of a fuel line replacement and delivery valve seal replacement and noticed every wire I looked at glowplug wiring all wires that were visible had insulation cracking and flaking off I have already had to re-wire my headlight harness on both headlight housings mercedes should recall the car for defective wiring it is just a matter of time before some of these wires short together has anybody had any problems with the wiring with their cars? Thanks for any input.

This is a common problem in these years (mid-90s), many threads here on "biodegradeable wiring." My '96 has had problems with the backup light and rear turn signal wiring under the car near the transmission. Mercedes has refused to admit there is a problem. Treat the wiring gently and make repairs as necessary.

I replaced the engine wiring harness due to same problem and multiple check engine lite warnings. The harness took about 3 hours to replace and cost about 650.Consider it. reassemble the delivery valves exactly as they come apart one at a time!

Steve

I paid $280-ish for the harness on the non digital 95. While it did not throw codes, it cerrtainly loaded the battery heavy during cold starts. I also wrapped the "baking tray" in race car heat insualtion to help the wires live longer.

Yes, the harness is engineered to rot(biodegrade) as a result of European green laws. I replaced my glow plug harness with a purchase from Phil here on Mercedes Shop. The E300D glow plug light worked intermittently or stayed on after starting before replacement because of the cracked wiring shorting. I wonder as well what other harnesses will begin to rot? This is really saving energy when additional harnesses have to be manufactured to replace them.

Straight forward replacement of glow plug harness, sensor, intake wires and plug to passenger side relay or control box next to battery. Takes 2-4 hrs depending on how long you dwell on the under-intake mechanicals otherwise unseen. I understand MB didn't want us to access the injection pump why for this cover-up design. Replacing the glow plug wiring harness not too difficult.

You may want to replace plastic fuel lines and injection lines at the same time. The egr plastic lines are brittle where they go into the intake and you can leave the black plastic EGR hoses while removing the intake where they go in and snap into the female holes. Likely these will crack when removed and need replacement as well. They are inexpensive and plan to replace some of them regardless.

Does anybody know when they started using this wire. I had to rewire both headlight modules when I saw the insulation I could not believe what I saw ????