venezzia

I'm not sure it's working properly. I'm going to run the code check tonight, but thought I'd ask if anyone else has experienced this.

When it was really hot, in the upper 90's, I turned on the air conditioner and after a few minutes, you know how in the center, there are 2 vents - the vent near the driver side blows warm air (seriously, I kept putting my hand in front of it and it would not get cold) and the vent on the passenger side blows cool (not cold) air. The side vents blow cool (not cold) air. Is this weird or what?

I also don't feel the icy coldness that I remember from previous air conditioner uses.. it gets "cool" but not cold.

This is the first time I have done a recharge at a non-dealer place - could that be a problem - maybe they don't know how to check all the a/c components?

raymond g-

read this.....
http://www.eclassbenz.com/node/27

then do this....
http://www.eclassbenz.com/acdiag

then post results. (hey, are you reading MBWorld at work??!!)

duh...you said you'd code check later. the dissimilar temperature would have
me guessing duo-valve as a first, easy fix/cleaning. tap on these canisters
lightly with, say, screwdriver handle and see if it helps to dislodge any light
sticking. if not, then it may need to be removed and cleaned. the latter would
probably be beyond your level of comfort so maybe your indy can do. degree of
difficulty is a low 1 (out of 5 being difficult)

venezzia

Yes, reading MBWorld at work because that's the only time I have to surf

I'll check out that duo-valve thingy when I get home. And also run the code check.

Thanks, R !

venezzia

I ran the check and these are the results.

# Your refrigerant temperature sensor indicates 141 degrees, which is warmer than the outside air. This is good. When the refrigerant is warmer than the outside air, it can transfer heat out of the car. This means that your A/C is working -- but just barely. This is a sign of low refrigerant rather than something more serious like total compressor failure (although your compressor may be leaking!).
# Often you can tell you're low on refrigerant by a hissing noise coming out of the center vents. The hissing is the sound of the refrigerant rapidly expanding to fill the evaporator. This only makes noise when you're low on refrigerant. Do you hear this hissing noise?

Could it be possible that the refrigerant has leaked out in a month?? After I took the car in for the recharge, they told me they put a dye in and to come back in a week to check for leaks. I took it back a week later (after driving about 50 miles during the week), and they found no leaks. So, what 2 months later and it's all gone??

Now, I don't trust the Indy shop to fix it. I think I will have to get the stealer to fix this. I don't want to keep wasting time to take the car in just to fix the A/C.

ohlord

a better indie shop that uses a sniffer instead of dye.Shop around there are good indies that know what they are doing find one before caving into the dealer2 months should be a big leak and easy to locate.

koskesh

If all else fails, I did notice something similar happening. I got in my car when it was hot out in the 90s and started driving on the highway. I usually get bored on my 1 hour drive to home so I checked my refrigerant pressure (#7) and saw it jumping up to low 30s then back down to around 10 to 20 and it kept cycling until at some point the pressure stopped reading and showed E. I also noticed the jerk when the compressor engages with this erratic pressure. This jerky thing did correspond to the pressure going up and down. this happened to me like three times. The air also gets cool when the compressor kicks in then it gets normal then cool again. I'm thinking I might have too much refrigerant in there so when the compressor sees too much pressure a safety disengages it. I'm not exactly sure though.

After about 30 minutes of driving this stops.

I noticed that when the car has been sitting in the sun out in hot weather if I drive it for like 5 minutes before turning AC on this does not happen. So you might want to watch #7 and try to reproduce the same situation with the hot weather and see what this number does.

venezzia

Took it to the dealer today. Turns out that the A/C Compressor is leaking and I need to get it replaced, along with the receiver/dryer and pressure switches... for the low, low, bargain price of $1,975

raymond g-

sell the damn thing and just drive the beemer. ok how about your indy? do they
possess the skill needed to R&R the compressor?

http://tinyurl.com/5qczfe

see if you can get a copy of this publication and to see if some indy ranks
high on the ratings and accessible in your area. the edition i just rec'd last
week for Seattle area evaluated approx 400 auto repair folks and rated them
by satisfaction vs value vs hourly rate vs manuf specialty. hopefully the
edition for your area will have something similar.

venezzia

How the indy could not have noticed the compressor was not working is beyond me and I would not let them touch my car again, unless it was just to change the battery!

oh hell no, not giving up the benz! I love that car and besides, it's the only automatic I have now - what would I drive to go up those steep San Francisco hills?

I consulted with my brother's friend, who owns a repair shop in San Francisco and he said he could do it for me and save me a couple hundred bucks, but that those parts are very expensive. It's not worth it to me to save that and have to spend over 2 hours round trip in bringing the car over there and back.

Oh yeah, and my extended warranty expired last August... why couldn't it have crapped out right before then??

sosh

The evaporator/dryer must be changed every time the system is breached or has a leak of any great proportion. Quite important or you will be back in for additional repairs. This is usually not a DIY proceedure as it includes some soldering in many cases. I would spend the money to do it correctly or leave it alone. You should have learned your lesson about indys with this deal.

jrs

I have a couple questions about the hose between the condenser and the compressor on my '97 E420 (suction hose).

1) Is this a dealer-only item? I don't see it listed at Autohaus or autopartswarehouse.com. If anyone knows of a source, that would be great.

2) Does the power steering pump have to come out to replace this hose? There appears to be a 6mm socket-head screw that attaches the hose to the compressor, but access looks very tight.

Thanks very much!

John

tbDallas

Hello guys. As you can see, I am new to W210 and I have a request. I have a 97 e320 in which the A/C compressor, condenser, and some a/c "switch" and a/c "sensor" has just been replaced. (I will get the specifics tomorrow from previous owner). The problem with the A/C is that its ice cold on passenger side but hot on the driver side. My request is that if you guys could please give me a quicj rundown of all of the possible causes of this so I can start the process of elimination.

I have a brand new set of 19" MMR's, new projector lights, and new tailights that i absolutely refuse to install untill this a/c is working properly in this Dallas heat..

Thanks in Advance guys,
tbDallas

koskesh

Check refrigerant pressure from the low pressure port while A/C is running make sure it has enough.
Duo Valve is known to stick. Give it a tap. Do a search here you'll fine plenty as far as location goes.

koskesh

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...ight=duo+valve

ohlord

19's you will ruin your ride quality and it will handle like puke.
Does your 97 have the digital dual climate control?
if so you may have a stuck duo valve,tests and diy cleaning on benzworld.org w210 diy section.or give the duo valves a firm tap with the handle of a screw driver that usually frees them up.
http://www.eclassbenz.com/node/27
ohlord

velvet fog

Good info on diagnosing w210 AC problems here: http://www.continentalimports.com/ser_ic40142.html

ohlord

for the flap test the continentalimports link is pretty much worthless.Most evap sensor failures never show up as a code,just a default value,and a lot of the other errors if you chase them you will find they clear themselves or clear with the erase function when you solve the real issue.
run
http://www.eclassbenz.com/node/27
make it your friend and learn to really understand what it is pointing you towards.
btw harborfreight tools has a r134 vacuum system to pull a vacuum and clean a/c lines before replacing a drier and recharging a system on sale now for 13bucks.That is a deal for those who diy their own a/c.
ohlord

hadam

Today, I charged my car AC with 2 can of 12oz each R-134a.

I had the symptom of many of you mentioned before, passenger side is cool and driver side is warm.

I ran the diagnostic with climate unit and found my compressor was working and temperatures were fine, only thing I notic is sound from center went. Ran th daignostic and concluded the level of R-134a was not enough.

Started with 1 of 12oz R-134a charge. The passenger side start to cool and driver side was still warm.

Added one more 12 oz of R-134a, after 20 minutes of charge, it is back to Ice cold. My AC is working again.

I know most of you try to play with duo valve, but It is not the case when you are getting warm on driver side and cool on passenger side. You should run the diagnostic and check all the temperture, NEVER concluded without temperature data that duo valve is stuck. Wrong assumption, you may break duo valve when it is not stuck or broken.

Run diagnostic on climate unit and see what is temperature on #1 through #6 and #8. This will clearly tells you that duo valve is fine, and just add some R-134a.

ohlord

ever suggested you start with taking the duo valve apart before doing the proper diagnostics.Values 1 and 2 have nothing to do with the duo valve ,if a marked difference of several degrees difference in the left and right heater cores is noted it is most likely the duo valve .A slight difference between left and right vents and a hissing from the center vents is a good indicator of low R134a.You added almost a full charge of r134a to get your system back into operation which means you wasted your money,you have a large enough leak that the r134a was evacuated along with some of the oil and the system has been compromised letting dirt in that will eventually cause compressor failure.
Pat yourself on the back,but now go have the system sniffed for the leak,get it repaired,pull a vacuum on the system,install a new drier and properly charge and oil the unit before it costs you more than 2 cans of r134a(which I sure hope were not the kind that contain any kind of stop leak gunk)
ohlord
And if it is the duo valve most times a good whack on the sides frees them up and they work fine and if not, you will not break them if you follow the diy rebuild on benzworld.org w210 diy section.

hadam

Ohlord, thanks for your feed back.

Also why I need to add oil? I just charged my AC with two 12 OZ plain R-134a without any other oil and leak stop junk. I spent only $14 ($7 each for just plain R-134a can without any oil or leak stop junk in it).

US $14 fixed my AC and it is working great now.

My sensor #5 (evap temperature) was about 50 degrees that's tells me that low R-134a and not the Duovalve issue. I don't believe my duoalve were stucked. Just a low R-134a that was causing cooler temp on passenger and hight temp on driver side.

Next question for you, how you do DIY to find leaks? Can you please direct me to some DIY thread for leak test.

I don't want to inject any thing in my AC system unless it is needed for leak test.

ohlord

a leak is around the fitting going into the condenser hopefully it is nothing more than a loose fitting easy to locate.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...ail_Store_ID=3
you have one in your town
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=92514
sometimes they have a coupon for the sniffer for about $10 off the regular price.The use of the sniffer is more sensitive than looking for that messy dye and a uv light and you won't have to inject anything into the system.
Great news that you put in only r134a. That stuff with the leak stop can kill a compressor or block the system.
good luck

GregH_E430

Hello everyone, I have been lurking for a while and have learned quite a few things from this site. I now have an issue with my A/C:

A/C was/is blowing warm, I took it to a dealer and they told me there was a crack on the connector of my condenser and it needs to be replaced ($1500). Is the condenser and receiver/dryer a DYI project? I have been searching for a DYI, but can't find much info. Any help would be appreciated.

MB: 2001 E430

Thanks
Greg

ohlord

did they show you the crack?
http://www.autohausaz.com/search/pro...AC%20Condenser
I assume that all the r134a is gone with a big leak like that,so no problems in having to capture the r134a.Replace the condenser and the drier,then go to an a/c shop have them flush and pull a vacuum on the system and refill it with the correct amount of r134a and oil(the weight and oil are listed on the top cover of the ecu module passenger side in the engine compartment.
go to benzworld.org w210 section I don't remember a diy but post a shout out for Matt L ,he has done the diy most recently and it has been a bit of time since I had to do a w210 so his memory will be fresher as to tool and nut fittings.alldatadiy.com has most of the factory wis so a subscription to it or a member with a current one can tell you if it contains the procedure.
hope this helps
ohlord

damonator

It sounds just like a failing power steering pump. I hate to say it but I replaced the power steering pump today, and still ended up with the same sound. The ac in the car works great. Its just this whirring sound coming from the compressor. All whys or hows would be greatly appreciated. This isn't even my car, its my friends and I feel like a schmuck.

tirona

could be just a vent no opening right, or maybe the blower motor regulator going out, they are known to fail every now and then in these cars. my car started doing that whining sound around the begining of the summer, and by august the blower motor regulator died. the part costs like $150 and takes 10 min to change, very easy job. but i did have the updated blower, so all i changed was the regulator. good luck