Blad Dasted AC !

Ach du Lieber...isst nicht das endt der worldt. My Sl320 has had the leak at the evaporator After doing some research I was going to use a sealer. had a little trouble getting a hold of the product since I am not a licensed AC shop. I ordered the superseal premium and was going to install it once the refrigerant leaked out again after the last charge. The last time I recharged it I put a leak stop in that got at Walmart it that was supposed to be for minor leaks only but it apparently stopped the leak for the time being. 4 months and still holding not as cold as at first but still OK. I will put the sealer in it if it bleeds down again. Icould not get the KeepitCool sealer but got the ClipLight Super seal which appears to be a similar product. You can check it out on their Web site

That darn thing people wants nearly $2000 to replace because the whole dash has to come out. The parts itself wholesale is like $180, but they are gonna charge you full list price of $800.

McBrue, I suggest you get a second opinion... have the other shop do a leak test... with dye and see where that dye is coming out. Or you can do the dye test yourself... $10 for the bottle... easy to inject... and $14 for UV light pen and goggle to see where it might be leaking out.

If no leak is found... especially the expansion valve where it connects to the evaporator... (this is where mine leaked)... Look far in between the two firewall... near center for that rectangle aluminum thing with two hoses on each side....

I suggest you try the sealer before finally resorting to evaporator replacement... only this if no leak found anywhere else.

I can see where people can get ripped off BIG TIME by saying evaporator... Charging hapless soul a whopping $1500... where the parts cost only $30 for expansion valve and seals. And pocket $1470 for 60 minutes job

Thanks for the tip. I am going to North Carolina this weekend. I will try to take a side trip to see what I can get a trailer for. Where in the state are they the cheapest?

Peter, if it holds pressure, then you got it. The reason it is not as cool is because you either got some air in the system or you don't have enough refrigerant. The R134 should be at about 34 PSI on the low side.... everything is done from low side.

If it is about 30 PSI or so, then I suggest you have it vacuumed out and then refill it with R134. This should solve your cooling problem.

I would imagine that would be Mocksville, NC. :)

Neva go up north ta N Carolina - too many dad blasted yankees up ther. An them ole yankees duznt realy caer for us trailer boyz. So ah dont no whare traizer iz cheap up in Yankee kuntry.

mcbrue athomeinthesouthly down by the river in the trailer under the bridge

I ran McBrue's reply (above) through the Babelfish language translator at Altavista.com . The results follow:

Swahili-to-English: i snort the nose, banana, banana, i get machete'. Eskimo-to-English: whale tooth rot, eat lard puppy, snow go fast. Swedish-to-English: Abba rules.

These were the only languages which yielded meaningful results. I hope this information proves helpful to others.

Thank you McBrue and u,

Now I know to continue to South Carolina.

u wrote:

HEY U !!!! Did ja eva try ta read it laik it sounds - er - looks?????

mcbrue phoneticaly under the bridge in the trailer down by the river

:) Actually the coolest thing I've ever read was a passage that was created by a psychology team at Cambridge. It kind of demonstrates Mc's points, to wit;

""Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."

Cool, eh?

Did you ever wonder why "phonetics" is spelled with a "ph" rather than an "f"?

... and why does the name "Lloyd" start with two "l's" rather than one?

Josh fonetically contemplating under another bridge....

Well you see the name Lloyd had a strange beginning. Way back in the cave man days, the first Loyd bought a wheel from some place in Germany. But when he went in to get it fixed one day they said it was flat on the bottom and would need to be fixed. So he said to fix it and when he came to pick it up, he was so shocked that he signed his name as Lloyd.

mcbrue shockedly under the bridge in the trailer down by the river

A guy who goes by 2phast.com shows how he removed his evaporator by removing the blower motor. Seems like he said it was a 3hr job.

He has pics and instructions showing how he did it. When going to his site click on AC upgrade.

Very interesting! What number is the 96 S420 that I have? Also what about the other little items that they replaced, like the dryer, expansion valve, and drain tubes? Can these also be replaced during this shorter technique? 3 Hrs vs

mcbrue enviously under the bridge in the trailer down by the river

Interesting approach......He did this on a W201 or 190e....Don't see why this process could not be valid for other series....I looked at my SL320 and there may be room that he had to deal with. Don't know if the drain tubes are accessable this way but the other stuff is outside the box that houses the evaporator. It may be a little difficult to reach into the bowels of the beast this way but probably possible. I know when I replaced the belt and top timing cover gasket and tensioner shock on my 190e 2.6, the manual wants you to remove a lot of stuff, the fan etc. I was able to do the job by removing only one of the pulleys. Took a litlle patience but what the heck.

Peter