utex1988

Well everyone, a word to the wise to anyone considering buying a W140; HAVE THE A/C CHECKED THOROUGHLY. As most of you know and some of you don't, Mercedes built the entire interior of the car around the evaporator core. The vast majority of these cars, especially 1992-1996 will LEAK. If you smell a funky chemical odor, that's the R134A leaking into your vents. I purchased my 1993 500 SEL in Feb 2002 from a wholesaler in Fort Worth TX; he said nothing about the AC not working. I recharged the AC in April and was fine until early September when this odor occurred. Shortly thereafter, the coolant was once again bone-dry.

After 29 hours of labor, an evaporator core and almost $3500 later, my AC is ship-shape again. This work was most compentently done by Ewing Autohaus in Plano, TX. They generously supplied me free of charge a new C240 loaner car. As nice as that car was, I was very happy to get my four-door monster back! A nine-year old S class still beats a brand new C......

Before anyone buys one of these cars, get a certified MB tech to put dye in the system to check for leaks. Caveat emptor!!! My great deal on this car just became slightly overpriced.....


Alex
Frisco TX
1993 500 SEL 85k mi
1977 450 SL 180k mi