JohnCL

Does anyone know what is involved in replacing the climate control stepper motor / actuator in an '02 C240? I think the problem is common, but I don't know what is involved. What is happening is that the floor vents will not open up and blow air. Any insight is appreciated.

TIA

SUNILP

before doing anything, I would get it hooked to a DAS system and actuate all the motors to figure out which one it is. It may just need to be resynced.

JohnCL

Thanks Sunil, I will get it in and have it checked.

JohnCL

I should add that they quoted $700 for the job and said nothing about syncronization. They said the part needed to be replaced.

Outland

They told me that once about a window motor...I asked them if resyncing didn't work? Uh, Yeah....we'll try that.

benzmodz

The luxury version of the climate control (digital display) is well known for breaking some cogs. They are so easy to replace but the whole dashboard has to come out. I dont know the labour rate but the parts can be just the ones that are broken and not the whole heater box.

Get a summary of the parts they say are needed. You may find that it could be done with fewer parts. But any such work is an "all-in" affair with major dismantling.

One the bright side you could get the BOSE, Parktronic and option wiring done (Sunman style) with all those parts out of the car. Would be a good way to mod the car since the panels, switches and so on are out of the car.

phattbam

they kept my car for 2 days + free loaner + $3k in service/parts = free hook up even outside of my warranty..

benzmodz

Even at full price the parts and labour dont add up to that. Must have been one of those "impressive favours" to win more future business.

D_TECH

If it was the footwell flap motor (which 9/10 times it will be) labor is at least 5-6 hours . . . WARRANTY. and if you dont know what youre doing it will suck. You shouldnt have to replace the motor, the linkages are what usually break, thats why MB made thicker ones.

susemu

Sunil, are you coming back to the Detroit area some time? Maybe you could then resync the motors on my car? All the flappers work, they just don't move after the initial 7 or 8 times cycling ....

D_TECH

why dont you just press the defrost button and recirc. button at the times and do it yourself . . . it takes 1 minute.

susemu

Hello D_Tech,

I was not aware you could resync the flapper motors yourself. I searched the forum and found several different syncronization tricks but nothing for the flapper motors. My manual only talks about syncronizing the roof.
I tried pressing the 2 buttons you suggested and after a few seconds they started flashing and went through cycling all the flappers. But it never stopped and even when I then tried pressing one or the other button nothing would change - they would continue to cycle through the flappers.

Would you please be so kind and tell me the sequence of buttons pressing in this case?

Greatly appreciated.

P.S.: Just searched for your post D-Tech and found one about the buttons. So, just pressing them for 3 seconds and letting go then is all there is? My flappers cycled for several minutes until I turned the ignition of .....

rubensans

Same happens to me.

Best Regards.

D_TECH

yeah, it'll usually run for like 30 seconds if I'm not mistaken (we usually just normalize/synchronize them using our SDS), if they keep flashing for an extended period of time it means they cant all normalize due to a faulty stepper motor or linkage (usually the latter). Pressing the button will usually work if you just replaced the battery or something yourself and dont have access to a SDS (and all your motors/linkages are fine).

RednBlue

It just worked for me! many thanks D_Tech