Car electrical fire
 

Sorry to report the loss of my 230E (W124) to an electrical fire. I was returning to work from lunch when apparently the electrical system arched or caused some type of electrical system fire. My beloved Benz is now in the hands of the repair shop to determine the cause and cost of the electrial fire. The damage was contained to the right battery box, relay area. It looks as if the engine suffered very little damage. I will have some pictures of the damage to post soon. The hood ,windshield, and right quarter-panel suffered the major heat damage. The fire department destroyed my front hood attempting to open the hood for access but I'm grateful It didn't happen while I was driving. Anyone with information or data on the value of my car would be greatly appreaciated.

1985 230E(W124) 152,000 miles 2.3 L 102 engine

Thanks in advance
Harrison

23 lurkers and no one offered to help you in such a simple question....

try www.edmunds.com that should help good luck

Quote:

23 lurkers and no one offered to help you in such a simple question....

Seems you have lurkers but no one has offered any help, The reason is probaly cause your car is gray market and kinda hard to get a true dollar value. Your insurance company is gonna have to do some research and come up with a replacment value. Have seen this done a couple of times. Outcome could be good or bad, Hang in there. Good luck. (sorry about the bad news)

From here, I would estimate it is totalled.

Insurance companies always want to 'total' when they can.

Of course, in this case, they are probably right.

I had an electrical meltdown once that I fixed myself. Not as bad as yours. Sorting out a mass of melted wires is not for the faint of heart. Plus, you never know if you have gotten every melted wire, since a short in one place can cause a meltdown in a remote spot. For the labor involved, it was not worth fixing in retrospect.

Let us know if you determine the source of the fire.

Thanks to all for the replies. I haven't been able to find a reputable website to find valuation for my car. I've tried edmunds.com I'm only able to get a value for a 300e and a 190E. since my "Euro" is a varation of both of these models I assume this will be the best value I will have. No word from my insurance company or the repair shop. They did provide me with rental but nothing compares to my 230E. I was ready to change the injectors, fresh coat of wax, tune-up, new tires, etc....

Yes, once the wiring is destroyed, I would imagine that it would be nearly impossible to properly repair and future reliability would be a concern.

Do you have any photographs of the damage?

What does this model look like? A 300D?