95 E 320 Engine Harness
 

Hey all I was out toying with my car today and found my wiring harness to be coming apart. Where is the best place to purchase one? Does Phil stock them?


Brian Felts

The 'search' feature will bring up more than you want to know about your harness.

Did you really take time just to add that or is search a default for your saying " I don't know" but I got to say something?


Brian

Brian, this question comes up so much, and so much is written on the subject that a search would yield more information than you would get in one post, plus save myself personally from typing not just the answer to your question, but everything else you need to know (but don't yet know enough to ask) to get your problem smoothly fixed.

For example, if you search using keywords "engine wiring harness" and my username, you'll get information that it is available from Fastlane... you'll find the recent prices for the wiring harness... the fact that there are two different styles for the 95 E320.... and where to find the part number so Phil can order the correct wiring harness and save you the grief of having to deal with a return as I had to deal with.

Please do a search, then come back for any other questions and clarifications that you want us to address.

I did the search before I asked the question. I did speak to Phil first because there is no place I would rather buy parts however he quoted me jus over $900.00 I have seen many get theirs for just over $500.00. I was asking where else people have purchased theirs.


Thanks

Brian

I remember somebody posting recently about getting the wiring harness in the $500 range. I believe it was posted some time this year. I can't remember where he got it from.

I found some directions here:

http://www.peachparts.com/Wikka/M104WireHarness

It makes it look pretty straightforward, I'm rethinking sending my 300E2.8 to the dealer to have this done.

They quoted me about $1500 for the engine wiring harness, if I can get it done that easily for around $500, I'd definitely consider doing it myself

Does anyone have similar instructions for the replacement of the spark plug wiring harness? I'd imagine it'd be almost as easy. Should spark plugs be replaced at the same time (I had 6 new ones at the 150Kmi service just a few months back).

Most annoyingly I couldn't find either set of instructions in the MB shop manual CD's - any one know the procedure numbers in the manual for both sets of work?

It depends on your comfort level on working with cars. It's one of the easier jobs. This job may be too trivial for the CD manual.

You'll have to remove some plastic parts under the hood access all the connections. Once you have access, it's a matter of splaying out the new harness close to the old one and keeping track of all the connections. On my car the most difficult connector to access was the one that went to the transmission. You need the hands of a 10 year old with the dexterity of a surgeon to get that one without breaking anything.

The spark plug wiring harness is also easy.

As with any job, don't rush it, and it'll come out okay.

Call Caliber Motors at 1-800-252-6877 for a price on a new wiring harness for your 1995 E320.

I did find it on my W124 CD's - procedure 01-0310 "Disconnecting and connecting engine wiring harness". Unfortunatley it seems to be for the W202 and W210 models, not W124. :confused:

I also found procedure 15-2003G - "Removing and installing ignition coils", this is certainly for my car as it covers the 104 and 111 engines. It doesn't mention how much torque should be on the bolts holding down the cable duct cover - what should the bolts be torqued to?

As Kestas pointed out, there are 2 part numbers for the harness for the 95 model year. That's why Phil asked for the VIN before he gave you the price. I have the expensive one, just like you. I got it about 2 years ago for something like $740, but as you know the dollar was just a bit stronger back then. BTW Phil had the best price or was within $10, but I chose to deal with Phil cuz everyone loves him so much :D . Things from Deutschland and elsewhere these days have a monetary premium attached to make up for the weak dollar. You may be reading posts several years old describing pricing that was much more favorable at the time. $900 unfortunately sounds about right :(
I did it myself. Many on this site have. It's really not too bad if you just go one connector at a time. Myself and others have written brief how-to's on the subject....you already know this as you have already done the search. I think there may even be a write-up in the DIY tab (see top of the page, blue tab). It took me 4 hours. I could do it again in about 1.5 hour; it's really not too bad.
Brian