Good Afternoon!

I just had my cam chained checked on my 92 500E. 66,000 Miles

I was advised by dealer that is was stretched to 3 degrees and that at 4 degrees it will be shot. Does this sound correct and what shoud be the estimated cost to repair. They also advised that my wiring harness needs to be replaced. What should this
cost? I would appreciate any information. Thanks!

__________________
Doug Kinney

1992 500E
2000 BMW 528IT 5 spd
1998 F150

Hey, Doug, it was good to see you at the park in Newport last Saturday. Very clean car.

I'd post this in the Hot Rods section. That is where all the "500E-heads" hang out.

Try asking Italianbenz (Guido). He has a 93 500E, and works at the Mercedes dealer in Torrance off of PCH.

I've seen postings from other members who have had their cars worked on by him by request.

__________________
Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

I have Guido work on my car exclusively when I take it to the dealer. He has an intimate knowledge of the 500E/E500 and will give you an honest assessment of your car. I highly recommend him to anyone in the area. Ask for John as your Service Advisor, and ask for Guido as your tech.

So far, Guido has done my 60k mile service, replaced my wiring harness, replaced my rear hydraulic shocks, flushed my hydraulic fluid, and replaced some faulty hoses. Needless to say, my car runs better than ever after his work on it.

__________________
1994 E500

As far as your harness is concerned: The 119 engines in that year...92+ had a service bulletin making dealers aware of wiring harness failure. Although it was not considered a "recall", dealers have been known to replace the harness at a significant price reduction in the name of "customer good will"...Factors that the dealers take into consideration are:
auto mileage , service record and confirmation that your particular car falls within the period of known harness manufacturing issues. Your machine sounds like a great candidate for some good will.
I had my 92 400E examined by a local dealer who was willing to make the change at "his parts cost only"...after checking the car, the service manager determined that the harness had been previously replaced.
Good luck

__________________
Jeff
'87 300E
'92 400E
'06 ML350

Hi, Doug --

I'll echo the advice that it might be a good idea to doublepost under the Hot Rods heading, or Performance Paddock.

66K sounds early for there to be significant chain stretch. I had thought the earliest you would see that would be in the 80K range. If it in fact needs to be done, it'll set you back anywhere up to the low $1K+ range with all the trimmings, but that would be a lot cheaper than a failure!

My car had a failed wiring harness (search on my moniker and the term "wiring harness" for my experience). 66K is probably not too early for that to go out.

Check my notes on how to self-diagnose that. Again, it's costly to leave unfixed. A shorting harness can take out certain underhood components (throttle actuator, if I recall correctly).

s/b

MBZ used to have 'offset' keys to use on the cam sprockets to get the valve timing right on spec. Check to see if they are available for that engine. Installing them is a simple 1 hour job.