2 known problems with the 260E - anything I can do?

[DriftworksJames]

I'm aware of 2 known common problems that affect the W124 260E 2.6L I've just bought:

1) Head gasket failure roughly around 100k miles due to poor machining tollerances on this particular engine. Starts as oil weeping from the front and back of the cylinder head/block joint and gets worse...

2) Some part of the wiring loom (not sure where exactly) in the engine bay having the insulation melting off the wires and causing all kinds of nasty electrical problems...

The car I've bought is exibiting neither of these problems.... yet....... is there anything I can do to proactively ensure that they won't happen? Retorque the head bolts or make a simple heatshield for the wires?

thanks again
James

 

[Sp!ke]

What year is your W124?... ah... dont worry, I can see its an early one, in which case it shouldnt suffer the wiring issues you mention. These are reserved for the post 1994 models with biodegradeable wiring harnesses.

As for the head gasket.... I dunno if there is anything that can be done to stop it - it seems to be pretty normal every 150k or so.

 

[DriftworksJames]

it's an '89, so that's good, one less thing to worry about

If the HG is good for around 150k, that's fine by me too I can get it replaced cheaply enough locally if it does go, I just wanted to know if I should be doing any preventative maintenance. If the answer's no, that's another thing I don't have to worry about

which leaves me worry free and strangely excited about getting a car (10:30 tomorrow) that is sposed to be my budget runaround
thanks,
James