Replacing 124 TBA
 

What's involved to replace the TBA on a 94 E320?

For my education, what's a TBA?

A TBA is a "to be announced", which means they are going to supply the identity of the part later, which makes it more difficult to elaborate on the install procedure. Or it could be a throttle body actuator, aka TB, ETA, EA, etc. etc. Anytime you see a mysterious 2 or 3 letter acronym it's probably for one of these. Does the car have ASR? Non-ASR TBAs rarely fail, just need to be cleaned occasionally and sometimes rewired.

It's a friends car, has no ASR, but cruise control works sporadically. I thought the wire harness may be at fault so he got a rebuilt unit before I could check further. I just need an idea how much of a job this is. If it's not too bad I'll change. Or send him to the shop tha does the major repairs.

No, not a big deal, still unlikely that that's the problem. Have you checked the fault codes?

Haven't checked the fault codes. The owner already bought a rebuilt TBA.
Why do you think it's unikely the wiring is faulty? I replaced the engine harness a few months back because the wires were bad.

Didn't say unlikely the wiring is bad, unlikely the throttle actuator is bad. Wiring could be bad but doesn't really require a new throttle actuator - just re-insulating some relatively short wires.

I'm just trying to find out what's involved to change the TBA. I don't care what is or isn't bad because the owners has rebuilt a TBA to swap in.

I'm not aware of a DIY on changing the 104 throttle actuator. It is of course on the 124 CD. But there really isn't anything to it - just follow your nose, or try a search here. I'm still trying to talk you out of this. The chances of the rebuilt unit being bad are probably as high as of the present one, dirt and wiring excluded. And pin 14 on the diagnostic connector is very likely to tell you what's wrong with the cruise control.

I hope 4Mercedes.com is not selling bad rebuilds. The CD has less than 2 pages on removing the TBA, that's why I asked if anyone has done it.
Thanks for your help.

Been there, done that. Bought mine from 4Mercedes and they did additional testing on other modules for me. Very good people. Easy DIY on my 94 e320 Wagon.

Call me tonight or tomorrow 610-776-7575 I also have piks.

Quick notes from foggy memory until I dig exacting instructions
1] Disconnect air intake & rubber extender
2] Disconnect elec harness connector
3] Disconnect vac lines 2 / 3 ?
4] Disconnect turnbuckle [back of TB toward firewall] ball connection & spring
5] Remove flap housing 2 visible bolts and 2 under plastic caps
6] Remove 4 bolts securing TB
7] Wiggle twist & shout TB through 3 & 4 intake runners.

There's lot of forums stories of rebuilt actuators being dead on arrival or not working properly, all vendors, nothing against those folks.

I've heard some goofy things but this take the cake...what the hell? TBA? really?

TBA aka Throttle Body Actuator