Wiring harness in engine compartment has cracked, dry rotten, and missing insulation. This is caused by poor materials used in production. It could be a significant safety hazard and cause a fire.
1995 Mercedes Benz E320 electrical complaints
Page 4 of 4: complaints 71 to 89 of 89, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The engine wiring harness and ea/cc/isc(part m16/1,electronic accelerator/cruise control/idle speed control) wiring insulation has badly deteriorated on my 1995 e320 cabriolet due to heat fatigue from poor manufacturing. This car has 92000 miles. The decay has reached the point of leaving bare exposed wire within the harness. These wires make contact causing the engine to stall, surge and set misc. Engine codes. It is just a matter of time until...who knows. This is a known problem to owners of these vehicles as evidenced by conversation threads on several well regarded forums. The general understanding is that mercedes was attempting to create eco-friendly wire insulation that would degrade in the landfill. It was a great idea, but has failed miserably. In my opinion someone is going to be seriously injured if this problem is not resolved with a recall. Now. This is not by any stretch of the imagination a part that is prone to failure. My feeling is that by waiting it out mercedes is hoping these cars will just go away. If you would like I can provide digital images of the harness clearly showing the decay. Quite frankly it is outrageous. I also do have a bad harness that I kept. I hesitate to send it as I may be forced to try and recondition it somehow. The cost of a new harness is ridiculous not to mention I would end up with a harness that will do the same thing unless they have changed there ways for this part! Here are the forums I mentioned above. Http://www.mercedesshop.com/shopforum http://www.benzworld.org/forums http://forums.mbworld.org/forum. I can not believe that a company known for a high quality long lasting product would duck out of their responsibility in this issue.
My 1995 mercedes wagon e320 has only 42k miles on it but all the wires aka the engine harness are crumbling to the touch. All the wire insulation has deteriorated because of the use of bio-gradable plastic. The dealer wants me to pay $1500 for the engine harness. How can such a major part be so poorly made and unreliable. This is a major safety issue for my family.
Disintegration of insulation on engine wiring harness.
The insulation that protects the wires in the engine wiring harness of 1995 mercedes e320 vehicles deteriorates and causes the wires to short. This electrical short may result in unexpected engine stalling, thus creating a hazardous condition. The engine wiring harness must be replaced. This condition exists in all 1995 e320 vehicles sold in the united states. The condition exists in other years and models by mercedes, however I do not have specific information concerning the affected years and models.
When I had my 60,000 mile service I was told the the wiring harness was defective and needed to be replaced to the tune of about 1500.00 dollars. Mercedes would not pay any part of this repair even thought the dealer indicated that it was a obvious design problem in the wiring harness of the e320 series and had been fixed in later models. My problem was that the harness wires leading to the spark plugs has hardened and the insulation has flaked off of the wires. God only knows where the harness has hardened elsewhere and what potential problems could occur when the vehicle is being driven. I think that since it has been omitted as a defect and is now causing safety and reliability problems that the manufacture should step up and repair the problems.
Failure of air conditioner, windshield wiper fluid, radio antenna, and oil leak. *la the A/C failed continuously since purchased, the front windows had broken motors the water pump blew, oil leaked into the cooling system and was replaced(water pump and head gasket was replaced), two engine mounts collapsed, driver's door rattled, engine light stayed on, and both front tires lost air and were filled every two weeks(five sets of tire). The consumer requested reimbursement.
I own a 1995 mercedes benz e320 wagon. I have owned the car for several months and decided to change the oil. While reaching into the engine complartment, I felt an electrical shock from a wire bundle near the oil filter. I looked and saw bare wires exposed where the insulation was missing. I have since found out many other owners of same vehicle have experienced similar issues with the wiring harness. This seems to me to be a very dangerous and very common defect with certain model years. The repair is very costly. Why is there not a recall on this very common and hazardous issue? It is an obvious design flaw.
Disintegration of the engine wiring harness causing loss of power while driving.
I own a 1995 e320 sdn, I have 87,000 miles on the vehicle and mercedes has performed all major service of the vehicle during the time I have owned the car (4yrs). I was informed that the main wire harness is falling apart and it was recommended that it be replaced to the tune of $1,200.00 plus. I have worked on cars for many years as well as restoring them and have never run across a problem such as this. M.b. Should stand behind this failure and initiate a recall.
I own a 1995 mercedes benz e320 wagon. Purchased in feb 2003 with 5300 miles on odometer. The hfm engine wiring harness had to be replaced immediately after trip to dealership for excessive fuel consumption/heavy sulfur odor. Mercedes benz web chatrooms (mbworld.org, benzworld.org, mercedesshop.com) detail literally several dozen cases of defective wiring harnesses which required replacement for w124 cars with m104 engines of model years 1992 to 1995. These wiring harnesses were aparently made with wires whose insulation is prone to excessive degredation with heat and time. The loss of insulation eventually leads to short-circuiting of the wires and a host of driveability issues. Replacement of my harness fixed my problem. This part is apparently universally defective from the factory, and as such I believe that a recall of the defective item is in order.
Underhood engine wiring harness insulation deteriorating rapidly on our 1995 e320 wagon due to heat fatigue. This is a universal defect with all 1993-1995 mercedes-benz e320 models. On our previous 1994 e320, this problem caused the car to lose power to one or more cylinders. Definite fire hazard.
Engine stalled multiple times in traffic. Replacement of engine wiring harness solved the problem. Insulation on the individual wires in the original engine wiring harness assembly has seriously decayed to the point that it is flaking leaving bare exposed copper wire within the assembly. The bare wires within the assembly conceivably made spurious electrical contact causing the engine stalls.I avidly participate in mercedes automotive technical chat rooms. This particular problem (decay of engine wiring harness insulation) is rumored to be confined to the mercedes 1993-1995 models with m104 engines. This would include models c280, 300e (3.2l and 2.8l engine), e320, s320. Within these models, the problem appears widespread. It is rumored that mercedes was trying to formulate an eco-friendly insulation that would degrade in the landfill. Though it was a noble effort, the wiring unfortunately decayed before its time was due, leaving a three year production of e320 models with wiring that is unsafe and prone to cause stalling. I have the old wiring from my vehicle and I can provide digital images of this wiring illustrating the problem in detail upon request. I believe the engine wiring harness of all affected mercedes vehicles should be subject to recall because it is not a part of a car that is normally expected to fail, and it has a profound effect on safety and emissions. The references below contain documented complaints of many people who have the abovementioned problem. References:http://www.mercedesshop.com/shopforum http://www.benzworld.org/forums http://forums.mbworld.org/forums
Bad engine wiring which possibly caused engine to stall in traffic.
While vehicle was being serviced and inspected, the mechanic examined the engine wiring harness and determined that the wire insulation on the harness was showing signs of serious deterioration and recommended replacing it before it caused problems by shorting out.
Product:mercedes 1995 e320 sedan problem: the engine's wiring harness has its insulation made of pvc. Pvc cannot and has not tolerated the heat and vibration developed within this vehicle's engine compartment. It, the pvc insulation, has become so brittle it is literally chipping apart at every vital sensor and/or device- including fuel delivery components! This has me extremely concerned since I'm starting to get check engine signals to the dash display now. I called mercedes' 800 number and they are acting ignorant about this issue since I'm not the original owner.
Oem wiring harness in 1995 e320 becomes brittle and cracks at around 100,000 miles that causes engine to misfire.
I own a 1995 mercedes benz e320 station wagon that has 76,000 miles on it as of 2/6/03. During a 75,000 mile service, the dealer discovered that the engine compartment wiring harness was decomposing and needed to be replaced. Shortly afterward the "check engine " trouble light began to come on repeatedly. The entire engine wiring harness had to be replaced. The dealers service technician made a comment on my paperwork that the harness had frayed through in one area and was shorting out in a valve cover. This type of defective product constitutes a class 1 safety issue. Via the internet, I discovered that many other owners of this type car from 1994 to 1996 have experienced similar decomposing wiring harnesses. This situation should be addressed by a general recall and mercedes benz of north america should replace the defective wiring harnesses.
The air conditioner has not worked consistently for two summers, the A/C compressor was not coming on because the harness was cracked and coming apart and the evaporator leaks, all of these faulty components caused the system to blow warm air. Nlm
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