Buy a 1995 300D -dChecking for wiring bad harness ?
 

I will be looking at a 1995 300D for sale . I understand it is one of the years (1991-1996 ) that was produced with the "rotting" insulation wiring harness . Where do I look to see its condition ( trouble spots ?) . How can I tell it has been replaced if there are no records provided by the seller ? - Thanks

That's going to be hard to see. The trouble spots are under the gigantic intake manifold. The harness goes to the glow plugs, injection pump, a/c clutch, and the flaps under the manifold. I don't think you would be able to tell the condition until you remove the crossover pipe.

>> How can I tell it has been replaced if there are no records provided by the seller

When I replaced the harness on my 1995 E300D, the new harness came with a makers label/ticket near the bulkhead connector which had the date of manufacture of the harness written on it.

This was in the UK, and so, I'm not sure if US issue harnesses are similalry marked.

However, if you find that you are unsure about the harness, a new one costs about £300 (I'm not sure how that translates to a US dealer price), and takes a few hours to fit.

If you're going to fit the new harness yourself, there are lots of little jobs to do under the inlet manifold while you're there - you'll probably need the manifold off to look at low pressure fuel pipes or glow plugs before too long anyway.

On my '94/'95 E320s there is a label visible between the ECUs and the inner firewall. A white laser-printed flag-label, easy to spot in all of the black down there. Anyway, there will be a FD (Fabrication Date) box with wwyy date on it, you want to see something much later than xx95.

Live rates at 2009.05.10 01:43:38 UTC 300.00 GBP = 452.489 USD

United Kingdom Pounds United States Dollars 1 GBP = 1.50830 USD 1 USD = 0.663000 GBP

from http://www.xe.com/ucc/

Thanks Shawn.

The thing I don't know is if the parts in the US versus those in the UK are priced differently by the prevailing exchange rate, or, if there's some other factors at work.

My guess would be that the relationship between the parts prices isn't just the exchange rate.

For many years, for example, cars in the UK were significantly more expensive than those on mainland Europe after taking exchange rates into consideration; the UK has long been considered a bit of a cash cow for car manufacturers!

As a more practical example, it can be cheaper for us to personally import parts for Japanese vehicles from Australia and New Zealand rather than buy them over the counter at the dealership!

Thanks . I looked around and did not see the label . I did not see any crumbling wiring but as pointed out I couldn't see under the intake manifold .

For another topic - I then test drove the car and found that it had an awful (high rev 2-3 shift flare, some between 3-4 that really didn't go away with careful driving (different for my 1990 300D that nned the K1 kit) . A mechanic friend who has rebuilt many MB transmissions drove it and told me that he suspected more than valve body issues (k1 and K2) and to pass on this car unless the seller reduced the price by about $1500 for rebuilding the transmission. That didn't happen when I returned the car after my inspection trip .

Moving one to another one .

I noticed my harness needed replacement by looking at the GP relay- the wires were all corroded. easy to get at.