Parked the vehicle and placed it in park then turned ignition off. Burning smell coming from vehicle then smoke started going in through vents and seemed liked it was coming from under the car. The electrical wiring harness is creating mass and the car nearly went up in flames. The fire department arrived and werent able to put out the smoke as the source of it was not immediatly determined. I am not looking at thousands of dollars in repairs.
The worst 1993 Mercedes Benz 400E problems
Ranked by number of owner complaints. Mileage and cost come from what owners wrote.
- Electrical14
- Engine4
- Acceleration2
- Driver assistance1
- Fuel system1
Problems by type
Tap a problem to see which part fails, at what mileage and in which other years.
- Electrical14
- Engine4
- Acceleration2
- Driver assistance1
- Fuel system1
Recalls 1
Engine and engine cooling: exhaust system
- What is wrong
- High ambient engine compartment temperatures are experienced after the vehicle is operated and then parked. If the vehicle is restarted a short time later and the charcoal canister is saturated with fuel, it is possible that fuel vapor may be expelled through the inlet vent line of the canister onto the electric auxiliary radiator fan preresistor.
- Risk
- Under certain operating conditions the electric auxiliary radiator fan preresistor becomes hot enough to ignite the fuel expelled from the charcoal cannister and result in an underhood fire.
- Remedy
- Dealers will reposition the fuel vapor canister vent line away from the electric fan preresistor. In addition, the preresistor will have a larger heat shield and a fused wiring harness will be installed.
Recall number 94V004000 · Recall details
Technical service bulletins for the 1993 Mercedes Benz 400E 3
Bulletins tell dealers how to fix known problems. A warranty extension means the manufacturer pays for that repair for longer.
What 1993 Mercedes Benz 400E owners say
Most recent owner complaints, unedited.
The fuel injection engine harness wiring has completely deteriorated due to the use of a bio degradable material by mercedes benz. Has resulted in a lot of shorting issues, which resulted in air conditioning turning off, fan control off, engine heating up, blue and black smoke, and now smog failure. This is a known problem to mercedes and they need to fix it. I have had over $4000 repairs and still need to get the engine harness changed, which is a custom par and mercedes will take 2 months to build and the repair estimate on my car is over $8000 by mercedes steven creek. These problems got me 2 traffic tickets for no reason. Disgusting. Mercedes needs to recall and fix this issue, and provide excellent safety and customer service, to people who buy their car. I request mbusa president to kindly look into this matter.
Wiring caught fire due to faulty wiring harness insulation, which is well documented. Yet, mercedes refuses to resolve/recall this issue. Wiring harness needs to be replaced.
Faulty wiring in engine harness resulted in loss of power at speed on a major interstate, luckily at the time I was able to get off the road safely. It was determined that the car's charging system had been shorted out. Still waiting on other system tests. This is a known problem with certain mercedes. Why isn't anything being done about this?
I own a 1993 400e mercedes. Recently it has had major difficulty turning over. I took it to my local mercedes benz repair shop. They told me it the engine harness has gone bad and needs to be replaced completely. Evidently this is a very common problem with this vehicle as mercedes used sub-standard materials when building the wiring harness. This causes major safety issues and I believe mercedes should be forced to begin recalling these vehicles.
Wiring harness on mercedes benz 400e failed and entered a low power backup mode on the highway far away from our residence. Wiring harness is charred and harness shorted out on engine.
Mercedes 400 e has a terrible wire harness dry rotted from temperature from engine.
The wire harness is cracked and rotten. The motor does not run right. It stalls and cuts out. The mechanic says to just give him $1000.00 for a temp. Fix due to the materials used in the replacement harness.
Tl* - the contact's 1993 mercedes benz, 400e with the cruise control set increased the vehicle increased speed. The contact immediately drove the vehicle off the highway, the vehicle would not restart. The contact's car was towed to the repair shop. The mechanic explained the following details to the contact: the air cleaner was removed which indicated the wiring was destroyed and that this is typical for this vehicle including a very high failure rate of the wiring harness. This failure, per the mechanic, can also cause a fire.
Driving on rt 101. Suddenly could not control acceleration. Nearly had an accident forcing another car off the road. Took the car to german motors-mercedes repair and they indicated that the engine wiring harness was falling apart and that this was a common problem for this model car.
Compare the 1993 Mercedes Benz 400E
Other model years
19921993
Questions about the 1993 Mercedes Benz 400E
Is the 1993 Mercedes Benz 400E reliable?
Owners have filed 19 complaints about the 1993 Mercedes Benz 400E, close to a typical 400E model year.
What is the most common problem with the 1993 Mercedes Benz 400E?
Electrical system, with 14 complaints, typically around 116,000 miles. Next is engine (4).
How many recalls does the 1993 Mercedes Benz 400E have?
1 recall, covering engine and engine cooling.
What year does the Mercedes Benz 400E have the most electrical problems?
The Mercedes Benz 400E model years with the most electrical complaints are 1992 (17 complaints) and 1993 (14 complaints).
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