Bad Evaporator on E320???

During the summer - a pretty hot one here in the North East, my '97 E320's freon level dropped very low- matter of fact, only had cool air coming out of the passenger side, hot from the driver side...

A quick trip to the dealer - - they emptied and recharged the system- but were unable to find any leaks- but added dye along with the freon- either the leak is extremely small or coming from the evaporator, which wasn't checked because of it's location...

Any insight into this would greatly - greatly - be appreciated- per the dealer, we're talking a huge job... and expensive...

Reply to
Uncle Vinnie
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Hopefully it will be anything but the evaporator. Shop time on that job is

21 hours....plus parts.
Reply to
Rockman59

Wow.. 21 hours... thanks... I too hope it's not the evaporator... 21 hours at dealer rates - ouch...

Reply to
Uncle Vinnie

A freon leak will cause all the freon to be lost so there will be NO cooling - anywhere.

I believe your car's heater control valve or the air ducts on the left side is defective. A/C simply blows cold when its engaged, heated air is added back to make us comfortable because the heat can be controlled whereas the cold is either ON or OFF, no choice.

Older M-B models have a "mono valve" to control the heater, the default mode of these old monovalves is - full heat. It may so on your car as well - so think heater control valve.

Reply to
T.G. Lambach

Normal protocol is to check again either 200 miles or 1 week after the dye has been added. If the evaporator core is leaking, the end of the drain hose will be covered with dye (which shows up vividly under UV light). The car is usually put on a lift to make that check. I would hesitate in having the evaporator core replaced UNLESS the dealer has ascertained it is in fact the culprit!

If you have cold air coming from one side though (not cool, but cold), that may not be the problem, and hope it's not. When my SL500 evaporator core developed a leak, it required removal of the dashboard to get at it which, as you might well have guessed, is load$ of fun! If the A/C system was open (ie: defective evaporator core), the repairperson will probably suggest replacing the receiver/dryer (in which the desiccant's effectiveness will have been reduced) and inspect the heater box and all hoses while they're accessible.

Paul

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Reply to
Paul Hyndman

any AC guy that knows what there doing will put a sniffer on the unit when its charged.

it will start screaming at the leak sight. in your case they would stick it down the dash vent first, then go around the fittings.

21 hours labor + parts and they are guessing?

its your $

case

the case, minus a few cans!

Reply to
IF YOU CAN'T SWIM DON'T JUMP IN

In my case, the passenger side air was cooler than driver side- by a noticable difference- but we're talking cool- not cold... I was told the car can be checked next visit to find the leak... yes, same story- rip apart the dash to get to the evaporator... geez, what a de$ign!

Reply to
Uncle Vinnie

Your model will have a duo valve, and I agree in this case that this sounds like the culprit. If one side is hotter than the other it sounds like one of the valves in the duo valve has stuck open.

As for the refrigerant loss, do you use the a/c regularly, even in winter months? If it goes unused for a while the seals can dry out and refrigerant can slowly escape. I've never seen an evaporator go on a

210, I don't think it's likely to be your problem.
Reply to
miknik

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