Hi Guys....

My A/C has been working great on my 2000 DII since I bought it 1.5 yrs ago....however, over the last 2 mths it's been blowing hot air. Took it to a local mechanic who charged it up, it blew cold for a day, and then was blowing warm again....took it back, they recharged and said it probably had a leak that they couldn't find, and also my condenser fan was seized.

So I replaced my condenser fan, and in the process I think I found a leaky a/c line....green stuff was seen in the area where the a/c line had a clamp around it.

Looks like part # JUE108230 ("A/C pipe receiver drier to joint") from Atlantic British.

My question is, can I replace this line myself? It seems that all the refrigerant has leaked out, so is it just a matter of removing the old line and replacing with the new one, then taking it back in for a recharge?

Thanks!!

Andy

 

Ok, If you have a shop that can't find a leak that bleeds out in one day, find a new shop.

And no, I would also replace the receiver dryer as well. Or should I say take it back, have them replace the receiver dryer in addition to the line and the seals, and then have them recharge it. receiver dryer's dont like open systems and they dont do well with air.

and promptly disregard everything that I just wrote because someone will say you can do the whole thing in your driveway.

 

BTW, any pics of that E500. those aren't exactly common place. We dont see those anymore where I work.

 

Thanks dig 07....I don't blame the shop for not finding the leak, the line was buried behind some foam material and the horn.

Plus, they will charge me a fortune to do the work and source the parts, so I am hoping for someone to tell me to do it in my driveway!

It's expensive to keep these old cars going if you have to pay someone to do the work!

Just took the pic of the E500 just for you! Best car I've ever owned...

 

I know how expensive it can be. I'm a tech for Mercedes. We will take everything in both pockets.

Rockauto.com is your friend. Go for the Valeo one. We use those on alot of mercedes cars and have had great success. They have the receiver dryer and the gasket kit in question. all you have to do is source the AC line. that eliminated the markup on parts you'll be facing.

The line, receiver dryer and the AC service shouldn't cost more than 2.5 hours tops. The line and the dryer should be an hour and the AC service should be 1.5 hours. time to pull vacuum, leak test the system, which should have been done when they recharged it in the first place. Insist that they add AC dye to the oil. that way, if it leaks again, it should be extremely easy to find.

Haven't had the pleasure of working on one of those. Like I Said, they rarely come through our doors anymore. If we do see one, it's got serious problems. Hold on to it, no matter how much it cost to fix. Their values will only keep going up.

 

I would say YES you can do it in the drive lol, you can do all this in your driveway because I did on my e36 bmw. However As soon as that dryer is in, you should be going to a shop for a vac and recharge immediately. Do that last if you can. Air = poison for it and it will not work properly with prolonged exposure to air and moisture. DO NOT turn on the AC on the way to the shop either because you are pushing air through it (idk why you would neway). If you do in fact do it yourself wait for a dry dry day as well. You should replace it since air has circulated through it a lot.

but +1 on a new shop and +1 on dryer and any bad seals nearby, dryer is a must with a drained system.

 

Thanks for the info dig 07.....Rockauto has the best price on the receiver drier, the a/c line looks like $107 from Atlantic British. How do I find the gasket kit on Rockauto? Never mind, just found it on their site.

What Mercedes dealer are you at in NJ? The Benz has been dead reliable so far, 111k miles on it now, wouldn't hesitate to drive it anywhere....

 

In my humidity, an open to air drier lasts about 2 minutes. Might want to pay for that getting swapped out by the guy doing the vac and recharge.

 

I just swapped the compressor, condenser, and receiver/dryer on my wife's minivan. Not too bad at all. I was going to get someone to pull the vacuum and recharge, but since I have been getting the hang of working on my D2, and have done some simple charging of A/C in my past, I thought I would give it a try. I did some reading, watched a few YouTube videos, did some more reading and has worked out well with a few new tools for the garage as noted below for much cheaper than I thought the tools would cost me. I picked up the new compressor, condenser and receiver/dryer on Amazon as well.

A/C Vacuum Pump

A/C Gauge Set with hoses

R134A Quick Connects for hoses


Along with the brass fitting for the top of the coolant can that I already had, a set of A/C o-rings to choose from for my spec vehicle and a little A/C oil to match the specs of my A/C system as noted on the under hood label and some bargain R134A coolant 12 oz. cans from a local discount store totaling the weight of the coolant required for fill noted on the under hood label. Make sure to cover the o-rings in the oil when reassembling connections to spec. torque settings. Also, referenced my Haynes manual, in the case of the minivan, that provided the correct amount of A/C system oil that needed to be replaced due to the replacement of the receiver/dryer and the condenser, so check what you may need for the D2 in this regard in addition to the coolant noted that is required for a full fill of coolant. Sorry, do not know that for the D2 yet.

If you do decide to do it yourself, pull the vacuum for at least 30-45 mins. regardless if it pulls down fast to near the -30 mark on the gauge set; it needs to run for a while to do it right. Open the blue low pressure side and run the pump. Turn pump off after vacuum pull, lock down the blue low pressure valve on the gauge set. I disconnected the pump, and let the gauges sit overnight connected to the system as a leak test, may not need to be that long.

I had to do a little research and reading on the proper pressures to look for based on humidity and outside temps on the blue/low and red/high gauges, but found some cheat sheets to work with and made some notes from some videos. You need to get more than one view, as some guys short cut some things, and just forget to mention others, so get educated. I feel much more comfortable now working on any of my vehicle A/C systems. I am no expert, but much more knowledgeable now. Couple Notes of CAUTION: 1) Wear eye protection and gloves; coolant in the eyes is not good & can get cold when filling from the cans, as well as the connectors to the A/C system on the vehicle can get hot. 2) DO NOT open the red/high side valve control on the gauges. Red valve should be tight at all times. When pulling the vacuum, and filling the coolant use the center yellow hose through manifold of the gauge set and opening and closing the blue low pressure side valve as required. Also, when replacing components as noted by others in this thread, try to keep the system open a minimum amount of time, and cover the openings to prevent contamination of the system from foreign stuff. I cut fingers off latex work gloves and put them over the A/C line open ends using rubber bands to hold them in place. This worked well on the ABS modulator lines as well when doing the ABS 3 Amigo repair.

Although I did not use the coolant can with filler hose/gauge noted in the link below, it has a nice gauge with a "V" grid on the gauge that overlays the outside air temp range over the pressure gauge settings to help determine the fill pressure required on the blue low side gauge. I picked up the brochure at Adv Auto that happens to have a good picture of that gauge with the "V" grid on the dial, and added it to my new auto A/C charging system tool box. Nice video in on the Adv Auto page where you can see the "V" grid gauge overlay in action.

A/C Prof Coolant with Hose/Gauge and "V" Grid Gauge Overlay
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...pro_10034602-p

 

re: pull the vacuum for at least 30-45 mins.

Very important step as it boils off the moisture in the system. Just llike coolant cap increases boiling point, vac decreases it.