Wiring Harnesses

[manofbronze]

I have a 1994 C280 Mercedes and recently at stop lights I noticed that the car wants to surge ahead and takes several seconds to begin idling smoothly.  I can also detect the surge sometimes at about 30 mph.

The car is in the shop right now and they said the wiring harness needed replacing ($900) so that they could simply begin to do a diagnostic check and now, having done that, they believe the throttle housing is burned out ($1,300).  I asked if my car was "fly by wire" and they said no, that it has a cable connection.  They said that it was necessary to replace the throttle harness also because the insulation on the wires had worn away.

They said that the mid-90's Mercedes have wiring insulation that tends to degrade and it is a common problem with them.

Has anyone else experienced a similar problem?  Is there a Chilton's manual for Mercedes cars?  I would like to know if these guys are maximizing the repair cost on me.

Thanks for any responses.

 

[jackd]

This has been a fairly common problems with Mercedes in those years.
Some have been the subject of safety recalls. If you car was included in those recals and the job has never been done, a friendly dealer could possibly replace the wiring harness on a ',silent warranty''
Good luck
jackD