Taiwanese

This happened to me lately.........

MY2003 C230 sedan 4-1/2 years old and 30,000 miles
(factory warranty is 4-year or 50,000 miles)

Sometimes at red light or stop sign, engine idle will dip a little when I have heater on.
A few days later, I heard a large metallic sound from the engine. I called MB 800 number but was told because it's out of warranty it's cheaper for me to tow it using my AAA.

Dealer told me the AC compressor broke. They have to replace the compressor, receiver dryer, expansion valve, flush system, recharge with freon and $2300. I told them the AC compressor should not go out at 30,000 miles and request help. They later said MB USA will cover AC compressor and my bill will be $1100.

I do understand it's out of warranty. But the part I can not justify is that AC compressor should not go bad at 30,000 miles.

MB USA: we good willed $1200.
me: this should be cover under warranty, obviously inferior part was installed to my C.

Well, I should have bought a Lexus.

dnlow

I think it was good of them to pay for the AC compressor since the car is out of warranty. The price of $1100 is a smoking deal. at $2300 it is still a fairly decent price. It sucks but the warranty has to expire eventually.

slammer111

Don't take this the wrong way, but technically MB is under NO obligation to do anything at all, so $1200 goodwilled is quite a bit. I'm with dnlow on this one; take the deal. Yes your car only has 30k miles but it's still technically out of warranty. As for your Lexus comment, imho that's a bit out of line; I can't remember ever reading about anyone else's a/c compressor breaking on this forum.

Cheers.

ps how come you didn't get the Extended Warranty?

Taiwanese

I do understand it's out of warranty. Legally MB USA does not have to good will anything.

The part that bothers me was why would an AC compressor fail at 30,000 miles. I don't use my AC that often. And it's not like I fail to service it.

I am a manufacturer myself. When I warranty a part, I make sure the part tested beyond what I warranty it for.

So for sure this AC compressor was that one bad one out of 100 or 1000. This is why I feel it's a good business practice for MB USA to warranty the entire repair. Warranty is one thing and this case deserves to be looked at differently.

Why I did not get extended warranty? When I purchase this car, I figure I am paying almost double compare to Japanese or American cars and MB should be reliable. What a mistake.

-------------------
side note:
This may be irrelevant but I have never have AC compressor failed on me until this one.

slammer111

Actually, now that I think about it, this does remind me on another (now-defunct) MB forum a few years ago, where people were saying that if you do NOT use your a/c regularly on a W203, the compressor may seize up. In other words, it's good to run it for at least a couple of minutes every few weeks/months to keep the parts nice and lubricated.

So no, you are not the 1st guy. Hope that makes you feel a bit better

Taiwanese

slammer111,

Thanks.
--------------------
Also prior to all this, sometimes the AC will be on when I start the car. I had to turn it on then off to shut it down.

FrankW

take the car to a local shop that specialize in MB service. they should be way cheaper than going to the dealership.

where are you from in So Cal? i know couple places around where I live.

Taiwanese

FrankW:

Thanks. I got it fixed. I called a specialized shop and it's $2200 for new compressor or $1800 for rebuilt compressor.

I am in San Gabriel Valley. I would like to know what shop you recommend for future reference.

FrankW

one shop is called STAR-TECH in Rowland Heights off the 60fwy on Nogales and Walnut Dr. It's next to the Self storage. I don't have their address, but they do only MB and BMW works decent shop with decent price. I usually change my oil there. oil change's around $65 with MB filters and mobil1. 626 810 4264

the other shop is in Walnut. called MB STARS. they do only MB. I did my netherland setting and enable NAV there. address is 788 Francesca Dr. #1a Walnut, CA 91789. 626 913 0780

Taiwanese

$65 for oil change is not bad. I recently did my own oil change and posted a DIY

My DIY cost was $55.

I know these 2 shops but never been there. Thanks.

lancemb

i actually remember hearing this as well from somewhere, cant remember where though...

Taiwanese

During summer I do use the air condition. Lately I have not been using it (cold).

Not matter what, it should not fail at 30,000 miles.

Using it or not is not an excuse!!

FrankW

I usually turn the AC off during winter for at least a good 2-3 months when it's cold. it never had any problem of ac compressor failing.

Taiwanese

same here

but my AC compressor failed at 30,000 miles.

DarCKnight

Well it only has 64k and my ac compressor blew apart. The guy who looked at it said he was surprised it didn't go through the radiator. It made a horrible noise for a couple of weeks and then the other day the noised stopped. I now know what was making the noise.... This sucks.

Taiwanese

My 2003 C230 has one belt that connects to everything (AC compressor, power steering, alternator etc). I could not start the car when the air condition compressor went bad. The car was un-drivable.

capt_paul

My AC just died on me this past Friday. Nothing but hot air blowing. So, today (Monday), I bring my car to the SA at Fletcher Jones. In the afternoon, the SA calls and says it was a regulator and it also took out the blower motor.

I personally showed the SA that the blower was working this morning and it was blowing hot air. They are telling me its about $850 parts and labor.

An hour or so later, the SA calls and says that the AC compressor is bad because the car is blowing hot air (NO ****!)..I told them that this morning!

Now they are trying to hit me up with ac compressor, dryer, expansion valve, flush... I told them that I will only have them do it if MB goodwills the compressor and parts, since it should not have failed at 54,000 miles.

To me, I think that it is the compressor clutch, since there was no freon leaks or bad seals. I looked on line and I found a new OEM compressor for $595 with free shipping and 12 month warranty.

If the dealer won't goodwill the fix, I am going to tell them to screw themselves, and order the part and have an Indy shop do it for probably a much cheaper place than the dealership.

Taiwanese

capt_paul,

Looks like what happened to me also happened to you.

Good luck, let us know how it turn out.

DarCKnight

From my understanding the 05's have a different compressor design. Inside they have some kind of spokes that are designed to break and allow the pulley to spin freely so you can still drive the car.

And why does the dryer, expansion value and all that other stuff need to be replaced when (in my case) its just the compressor that was/is bad ?? Sorry but I don't know alot about A/C systems.

Taiwanese

According what the dealer told me, once the part is broken, little metal pieces goes through the system. So everything needs to be replaced and freon needs to be drained and refilled.

PA_Pete

That statement is actually pretty accurate. Now, as for a MB, I couldn't tell you, but I do know that on certain domestic vehicles (1996 S-10 Blazer) I have had this happen. When I purchased the truck, the AC wasn't working, "well, we can't have this" says the girlfriend, so I buy a new compressor since I knew it was toast. After flushing the old oil out of the system with compressed air, I was able to open a section of the low pressure side BEFORE all of the internal components (evaporator and what not) was a plastic screen which caught the majority of those metal shavings. Now, I know I'm comparing apples to oranges here, but I just wanted to mention that I have heard of metal pieces getting in the system from the compressor going, and that in my experience (not with MB though), there was a screen to protect the rest of the AC system from little metal pieces. Good luck with that.

Glyn M Ruck

This is a bummer and no it should NOT fail at 30,000 - others have given you wise advice here regarding the warrantee. I do, however, know of many that have run a hell of a long way without trouble.

There is one thing I want to reiterate that has been mentioned here already. I come from an oil industry background and have worked with most of the automotive aircon compressor manufacturers on lubrication since the advent of ozone friendly R 134a etc. refrigerants. They are mainly lubricated by polyol esters or polyol ester blends. I'm not going to go into a whole lot of technical BS but I STRONGLY recommend that you run your aircon at least once a week for at least five minutes - summer & winter for long trouble free life. This keeps the seals in order and everything properly lubricated. Also good for demisting in winter as an aside.

The industry has encouraged OEMs to publish this in owners manuals and most today do. Regular running can extend compressor life many fold.

Ignore those that say they never run their aircons in winter - They might get lucky but they WILL shorten compressor life. Don't make the OEMs wealthy selling replacements.

capt_paul

The thing that pissed me off at the dealer is that the blower was working fine when I showed the SA (not my normal SA BTW). When they called at the end of the day they said that the blower and the relay were bad.

So they replaced it but I still don't understand that they broke the blower and making me pay for it!

I went to the dealership and got my car back for $750 lighter on the wallet, with the same problem that I had (hot air blowing)

I wne t to an independent ac repair place that my bro reccommended and they looked at it and that the part on the front end of the compressor broke and that I indead need a new compressor. The guy is hooking me up with a new oem unit for $495, which is better than the dealer quote of $1000. With the other parts like the dryer and seals, it will come out to about $900, which is far better than the $1700-1900 quote from the incompetent mechanics at Fletcher Jones in Las Vegas.

The dealership would not even goodwill anything to make me happy. They lost out on possibly thousands of potential income as I will never reccomend their dealership again, and I will now only take my car to indy shops.

I will post when my system is up and running again with the final $tally.

Glyn M Ruck

Good Luck & run your new aircon often

aolsen

Sometimes, I hear a whining noise when I step on the gas. (no not the supercharger lol) It's like a rough whine. It only happens when I have the blower on. Turning the blower off makes it go away.

Also, when I have the AC on, the car seems to shift rougher, and have less power. I have a manual transmission, 2003 c230.