All,

I have already done a search on "Wiring Harness" and have read the archived messages. I LOVE this site. Very helpful.

Anyways, I was driving this evening and all of a sudden, my 1992 400e lost power. It felt like there was not enough fule getting to the engin. I pulled over and the car idled just fine, but when I reved the engin, it sputtered and hesitated. I shut the car off and restarted... it started fine, but the lack of power was still there.

It was late in the evening so I was able to drive the 2 miles home. I could cruise at 45 MPH, but I had to get there SLOWLY. If I put any more than 1/4 throtle the engin would sputter and heitate again.

Once home, I poped the hood and made sure nothing was obviously wrong. All LOOKED fine. I noticed that when in PARK and I reved the engine, the engine temp gauge would drop from 90 C to zero. It kinda looked like a reversed tach. Once the engine idled, the temp was back at 90 C again.

I though that maybe the temp sensor was going bad. So I pulled the plastic cover off of the front of the engine, remember, this is a 119.975, and saw that the insulation was all cracked and brittle. Well I followed the wires all the way back to the secondary firewall and to the main connector and saw the entire wiring harness was falling apart!!!!

There are about 20 seperate wires and ALL OF THEM were loosing the insulation.

I am going to check with my local dealer on a "Goodwill" service for this, but I want to make sure I have all the correct info.

Is there bullitin number or any reference number I can tell him to look up?

There was a part number on the large end of the wiring harness... 124 543 88 32. Can someone tell me if this is the correct part number for the wiring harness, or is it just for the plastic connector?

Thank you very much in advance.

-David

All,

Well I could not wait for any more info on the wiring harness recall info. I went to my local dealer, Smythe European in San Jose. Explained how my wiring harness insulation is brittle and falling apart and that where was some type of recall campain <sp?>. I even showed them my car and the harness.

Well to make a long story short, about 45 minutes later and $450 poorer, I was on my way home to install my newly purchased wiring harness. The dealer would not provide any assistance in resolving the problem.

The good news is that after installing the new harness, all is fine. My 400e is back to normal and running fine!

I was surprised that the harness was so large. It included the fuel injector connectors as well. Installation was pretty easy. only about 5 hex bolts and some fancy routing.

If you have a 400e, CHECK YOUR HARNESS. This is the one that starts right behind the computer box on the RH side of the engine bay. It contains the injectors, some connector for the distributors, and the temp sensors in the front of the engine.

I could not beleive how brittle ALL the wires were on my old harness. The new harness was made in 3/2000, so hopefully they are using better wires!

Good luck all!

-David

Mercedes IS doing this ONLY under a goodwill policy!!! I CAN'T STRESS THIS ENOUGH. IN ATLANTA, WE CAN GET THEM WARRANTIED IF THE CAR HAS LESS THAN ABOUT 120,000 MILES AND A GOOD SERVICE HISTORY.

SINCE THIS IS ELECTICAL IN NATURE AND ALL OF THE PROBLEMS WITH AUTO SAFETY (FIRESTONE) IN THE AIR, IF YOU YELL LOUD ENOUGH, IT WILL GET DONE..


THIS IS NOT, NOT, NOT, NOT, A RECALL.

IT IS DONE AS A GOODWILL REPAIR.

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Benzmac:
Donnie Drummonds
300E
ASE CERTIFIED MASTER AUTO TECHNICIAN
MERCEDES SPECIALIST 8 YRS
PARTNER IN MERCEDESSHOP.COM
OWNER OF MB AUTOWERKS .COM

Benzmac,

I called RBM of Atlanta and spoke with one of the parts guys. I gave him my VIN number and the part number of the harness. He said that YES, it is the harness in question. But he could not provide me with any type of reference number or document number that I could tell my local dealer to look up.

I went to my local dealer and explained in detail what was going on. He too pulled a record of my VIN history and he showed me that a harness was alredy replace back in 1994 under a campaign number, but the harness that was replaced was NOT the one I was having problems with (124 543 88 32). He showed me the tech docs for the campaign that was listed and it showed a harness in the part list.

Can you provide me with some type of reference number or campaign number that I can tell him to look up?

They were helpful to some degree, they spent about 45 minutes with me, but I don't think they looked as hard as they could.

I alredy have installed the new harness and all is running fine, but IF I could get some type of reimbursment from MBUSA I would like that. I could always use the $450 towards my RennTECH differential. LOL

Thanks!

David

Does this problem also occur in model year 94 E420's? Is this year also sometimes covered under the goodwill provision? What do I look for in my car?

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Bob Johnston
94 E420