with the weather being sporatic in the south, I turned on my A/C today, to my surprise it did not come on, I looked under the hood because I know last year I changed the A/C drier bottle by the drivers side front fender thinking that something may have gotten loose, it turns out that the hose that comes from the expansion valve by the windshield has started to leak by the coupling, I went to a local mercedes repair shop and was advised that the hose for certain needs to be replaced, and that the drier bottle once the hose is removed from it, will take on moisture, and dust particles, therefore it will ahve to be replaced and as a precaution the expansion valve will need to replaced since it will be "disturbed", this sounds like a crock of bs to me, but what do you folks think?

 

The shop is right. The receiver/drier needs to be replaced. The part is cheap.

Don't know about the expansion valve, but it makes sense to me, especially if accessing it is difficult.