aldokla

Hello all! I just inherited a 98 SLK 230 a few days ago. Most everything seems to work fine with the car, but there is a strange thing happening. The a/c works fine for the first 5 minutes of every day, but then the a/c compressor stops working, and only warm air comes out of the registers. I checked the refrigerant level and that's fine. I know the manual recommends taking my car to the dealer, but I learned my lesson the hard way by taking my bmw to the dealership for every problem - they always leave me broke!! Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Buellwinkle

Car A/C systems have a low pressure switch that cuts the A/C compressor off if there's low pressure or not enough refridgerant in the system. This is to prevent the compressor from self destructing. So you may have one of two possibilities, a faulty pressure sensor or you need more refridgerant. They sell kits to fill it yourself and you can buy a new pressure sensor or you can find an A/C repair place and see what they say. Look at the SLK Tech Manual on my website in the resources section. It would give you the location and picture of the pressure sensor and some other A/C components.

Personally, A/C systems scare me, anything under very high pressure scares me so I would take it to an expert.

aldokla

Thanks for the info........i'll check that pressure switch. If nothing else, your help will give me some idea of what might be wrong with system, rather than just relying soley on what the shop tells me!