Over time, it became apparent that the issue wasn’t the soft close.  All the electrics had stopped working on the tailgate.  This became obvious when the bulb out warning came on.  The number plate lights were not coming on, the wiper was not coming on and so on.   Since the 3rd brake light is a bit of an afterthought on these cars, it is not linked to the bulb out sensor, but it was also not working.

It was clear that the issue was my tailgate electrics.   As everything was not working, it was obvious the ground wire had broken in the harness.   The ground wire is the thickest and is the most likely to break.

I had a couple of options.  Repairing this wire, or replacing the harness.  I elected to replace the harness.   I figured that after 30+ years and almost 400,000km, I would be playing whack-a-mole with the rest of the wires if I tried to fix them.   The trim in this area is very brittle and taking it on and off wasn’t ideal.  Plus it would end up being more time consuming and expensive.

I purchased a new harness from Kurth in europe and waited for it to arrive.   This job was also an opportunity to fix a few other things that needed doing at the time.   Some of my trims around the rear aperture were broken and I found a much better set for sale.   My 3rd brake light housing was cracked, so I got a reproduction one from OctoClassic.   There is also a long plastic piece that goes on the bottom of the tailgate.  Mine was all cracked, but I was able to buy a complete spare tailgate.  That car had been white with a palomino interior.  I took a piece of broken trim and went to autolac who made me a spray can in the correct cream colour for my car.

I was going to try and do this job myself, but after almost a year of not getting to it, it was time to send the car to a professional.    I’m glad I did as the job took four hours for somebody with experience.  It would have taken me at least double, probably more.

In the end the old harness was ok other than that one broken wire, but I am still glad I did it this way.

Its great to have the soft close working again.  When it is not, the tailgate rattles.  In addition, the broken 3rd brake light cover, aperture trim and the bottom trim all look so much better.   Now the car goes to the panel beaters to fix the damage from the P-plater earlier this year.

The post S124 Tailgate Wiring harness appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

Finding parts for my 1998 W210 E430 has been hit and miss. Some parts have been very easy to find, like the climate sensor motor, found at Pelican Parts, while the fan regulator was found on Amazon. There have been some tough parts to find, like the RHD dashboard speaker and the driver’s side front tow eye cover, which was missing when I purchased the car. This last part was especially problematic as my car has been fitted with genuine E55 front and rear bumpers. I searched the web, but sellers were asking drug money for a used example. It was then I stumbled on OctoClassic. They re-engineer spare parts for many marques, but cater for a wide range of Mercedes-Benz vehicles

It took me a while to workout what was left and right, but then ordered the part. A few weeks later it was delivered and came primed, all I needed to do was paint it. I was thinking how I would paint it, would I do it myself, or should I get it painted professionally. Well, the decision was made for me, when my daughter reversed into a car. I dropped the car off at the panel beater and asked if they could paint the cover while fixing rear damage.

Picking the car up, I noticed the cover freshly painted, but they were unable to install it as they didn’t have the clips. The next challenge was working out what parts I needed and where to order from. No surprise to me the hanging straps required (Part# 0069882878) were no longer available from Mercedes. I found a set on Ebay, costing $68 and they were delivered within a week.

Fast forward to this weekend, I finally got around to installing tow cover. I quickly worked out the plastic end of strap that sits in front bumper was too wide for slot in bumper. I used a small file and filed it down a fraction. The tow cover then simply clipped into place and looks good, apart from the rest of the front bumper that’s chipped up from many highway kilometres.

If you have an older Mercedes-Benz, I recommend you check out the OctoClassic website.

Author:  Nick Gruzevskis is a contributor to classicjalopy.com, and the custodian of a great collection of classic and modern cars.  Links to some his other articles can be found here

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