I have a '94 SL280 and am in the middle of removing the harness to send away. After watching this there are several extra steps I'm adding in, valve cover gasket being one of them, coils, plugs, and leads as well. Thanks for showing how to get that rear wire out, been puzzling over that one.
You're very welcome! I like to record these videos not as a "How To" since there are better resources out there. But more like a realistic guide of what I ran into and tips on solving issues I ran into. Check back in here when you finish up! Hope it all goes well 🙂
Glad you like it! Yeah I noticed the same thing. This is my second time doing a harness (first was a 1993 300E). I wanted to make sure to show the routing portion. Thanks for watching 🙂
@@bsclifton I just replaced the harness here... I actually cut and soldered/shrink tubed that hard to reach wire. I thoroughly tested multiple portions of it from the old harness, and it seems the insulated wire was hermetically sealed in silicone insulation. Whatever the reason, the wire inside was still pliable and like new. I couldn't get it to crack or crumble or even make stress marks. I felt zero anxiety doing it this easier way lol. If one disconnects the heater hod from by the brake booster and then just pulls it up and out of the way, I suspect a guy could reach the connector from up top. I never went that far though, so I can't say for certain.
You should do a video on how to hold and camera with a busy second hand! Excellent in this regard, with great focus on the essential details. Really enjoyed the video. Adds value because our cars are not well covered.
Huge thanks Richard 🙂 All recorded with a Google Pixel 6 phone which is easy to hold and does have some software stabilization (I'm still getting better at all this!). I'd love to show more of the actual wrenching - but since I don't have a tripod, I just want to share the most important parts (things that took a while to figure out). Hoping people working on these same projects find this video! 😃
I know you've sold this car on, but wanted to say thanks so much for posting this. This is a really intimidating job at first glance, but after watching your video, I decided to jump in. I also have a '94 SL320 and really love the car. Got a Delphi harness of EBay in pretty good shape--they do seem to be getting scarce again. I originally tried to get away with not doing the little 3-wire lower harness, but it fell apart in my hand while in the computer compartment. So, had to make that from scratch--not too bad but had to bust out my mediocre soldering skills from the 90s. The only snag was the oil pan sensor connector was toast--found one in Germany. Did I mention parts are getting scarce?? Anyway, thanks again. If I hadn't seen that false firewall trick, I'm not sure I ever would have figured out how to route the new one in. I cut out the old one and removed it before putting in the new, and that worked really well for me. The connectors have exactly the right length of wire so it's pretty intuitive which connector goes where.
You're very welcome - definitely my pleasure to post these types of videos. There wasn't a ton to reference when I was doing it. Parts are absolutely getting harder to find! Kudos on doing the lower wiring harness - I really wish I did that and and MAF wiring. Glad you found the false firewall trick useful! Thanks for watching and commenting 🙂
Good job.You explained the process well.Any chance of you doing a video where you drive the car and give us your feedback on how it drives,handling,acceleration …etc.Thanks 👍
1993 should have been the 300SL which was the M103 engine. If that is what you have, the part number for distributor cap would be 103-158-00-02. 300SL-24 and SL320 models had the M104 which uses HFM (uses mass air flow sensor). The M103 is using CIS-E (Bosch Jetronic). You can visually tell if you have CIS-E/Jetronic because you'll have hard fuel lines going to the injectors and a distributor cap. HFM uses intake manifold and ignition coils.
Great video thank you. I'm about to do the same thing on my 1995 E320 - same colour as yours. One question: did you have to replace the throttle body or was that a 'while I'm there'?
Hi there! Yes - I replaced the throttle body as that has bad biodegradable wiring too. It may be less prone to failure - mine was seemingly fine. But for preventative reasons, I wanted to replace. There is a 3rd wiring issue (lower harness; from battery to starter/alternator) and that's the only one I left alone. It seemed fine in my case and it's hard to find this part
Hi. I have a 95 sl320 and it looks the same as your wiring harness. Do you know where I can find one that is in good condition? Also should I also replace those gaskets on the cylinders? I don’t want to brake my car even more haha. I’m just trying to diy. You did such a great job btw. It’s giving me hope that maybe I should keep this car. It only has 89000 miles on it but the wiring harness is really bad.
I went on eBay and searched for the same part number. You'll want to find the exact same one - there are differences depending on the year and model car it came from. Even in the same year, I think there are splits in part number. The rebuilt ones will have a pillow tag saying the rebuilders name (DELPHI is a great rebuilder) and the year it was rebuilt. There are also places you can contact that will take your harness and rebuild it - although that's a bit more expensive. For example, check out kurth-classics-autoparts.de/gb/
I wouldn't say they're prone to rot, no. Anything high temperature or old is going to eventually at some point fail. I have a 1987 300D with 422k miles and I've had to fix some of the wiring where the insulation started flaking off. For the engine wiring harness made out of soy (1993-1995) the dead-giveaway for me are the wires at the front of the engine, by the timing cover. Those will usually be in SUPER poor shape if the harness hasn't been replaced with a refurbished one
The Delphi harness is the new one- the old one was definitely the original. I found tape in some areas where the insulation already fell off and the person was working around the issues 😂
