- builds character
- Jan 16, 2008
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Keep at it.
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Crossposting because apparently "just pump it full of R134. I'm wearing PPE, what's the worst that could happen?" is not a good plan.
Part of the joy of parking on the street in NYC is you get to see people do stupid things. Like park their cars directly into the tow hitch on your van for... reasons? It's funny because there was a good two feet of room behind them and behind that was a crosswalk so it's not like they were really trying to squeeze in. RIP, your license plate, dude. It made very bad crunchy sounds when I pulled forward a little bit to get in the back for some tools.
Today as part of plan "HOLY poo poo I NEED AIR CONDITIONING IMMEDIATELY IF NOT SOONER" I'm going to take out the heater controls because the middle button doesn't really spin and maybe that's part of the problem. it is not part of the problem. why would you think this is part of the problem? what a dumb thing to think. You can see on the left where one screw is. There are two more underneath. Put it into neutral...
And it all just sort of pops off. No I wasn't nervous about breaking the trim pieces. You're nervous.
Big piece comes off and then the bezelish part around the controls. You can see they're held in with two screws.
And there's the culprit. Interestingly, as I started to take off the cables to send this in to get repaired poke around a bit before breaking something and buying a new one, I noticed that the problem wasn't actually with the control unit. That spun just fine.
It was with these fuckers behind it. I liberally sprayed them with lubricant and lubed up the cables too for good measure and we'll see how it is in another day. Apparently the entire thing is mechanical. Cables pulling to rotate those which connect to various blend doors. The lighter one moves OK but the dark one is pretty stuck. From what I've read it's quite possible this is just the plastic grinding and not wanting to move and lubricant will fix it. The other thing I've read is that you have to replace things deep inside the van to fix it.
But, nobody cares about any of that because it turns out this is completely and totally unrelated to air conditioning which is the really important thing. I have bezos's thirty dollar-est manifold gauge and six cans of R134 coming this week so that will be step one. The compressor never kicks on so I'm hoping that it's just empty and needs to be refilled. We'll see how it goes, but fingers crossed!
Why didn't I start with that? I thought the control unit was also broken and wanted to send it off to get repaired and then figure out the AC while that was being done. Riddle me this: how will you turn the AC to help diagnose it without THE CONTROL PANEL? HMMM? Yeah, I don't know either. I didn't think that one all the way through but fortunately I've been saved by the Wisdom of Mercedes Engineering ⟨™⟩ and their indestructible-unless-you-break-them-by-doing-the-wrong-thing parts.
Current plan:
1. Check pressure with gauges that come today.
2. Check that heater control unit is sending power to compressor when snowflake button is pushed.
3. Check that compressor is receiving power when snowflake button is pushed.
4. Post.
5. Do what Motronic says.
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Jun 7, 2022 18:36
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- builds character
- Jan 16, 2008
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Keep at it.
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Success (I hope)! This is after replacing all the o rings (except the evap ones buried in the dash), but we’ve got short term vacuum!
In a fit of rage I continued to work on the van. And it was good I’d gotten in the mood because I discovered some PO FUCKERY. They’d previously had the radiator replaced and the mechanic who did it did about the job I do when I’m tired and annoyed and told my wife I’d be home two hours ago. This is the intercooler and its attachment point to the condenser. I figured it out all on my own because it sure as gently caress hadn’t been connected before.
Nor had they actually bolted the horn back on after undoing it to move it out of the way. Because it was too much effort?
They were also missing two of the four bolts that connect the intercooler to the radiator. The hard to reach one’s obviously. I played fast and loose, using Genuine OEM KTM bolts. They’ll have the added benefit of reducing the van’s weight by .03 grams.
Here you can see the cleverness of the design. The intercooler bolts onto the radiator in four places on the far outside. Then it hooks up to this line with two small screws. On the bottom, it bolts to the condenser and then the top of the condenser bolts to a crosspiece that goes above the radiator.
Last but not least, the fan connects to the van body on the bottom in the front and to that bracket that goes over the condenser. I’ve read a lot about how folks who replace the condenser get rubbing from this fan that rubs a hole in the condenser but I don’t see how. They’re close ish but they definitely in no way touch and they’re both firmly held in place (if you reconnect everything correctly).
As long as we’re here and it’s almost midnight and I have work tomorrow, I might as well check to see, right?
That is vacuum!
And here is ten minutes after disconnecting the vacuum pump!
I’ll go out and check it tomorrow or Friday but it looks like I’ve fixed the catastrophic hole to atmosphere. Next steps are replacing the dryer, vacuuming for an hour or two and then refilling with R134a by weight. The engine also sounds quieter/smoother with everything properly attached too!
Edit for next steps and to say thank you to the thread. It was quite helpful, so thank you.
I’m going on real vacation for a week. Please don’t steal my van or break its windows while I’m gone. When last we left off we had vacuum!
After much fumbling and loud hissing as I messed up popping on the gauge, we still have vacuum! Slightly less but I think it’s likely because I didn’t put the gauge on very cleanly. At all. I’m only mentioning it because my mistakes must be memorialized and in case you care about how much vacuum there is.
That thing in the back in an inconvenient place is also getting replaced.
It’s an ax expansion valve. It connects the system to the evaporator and makes cold. It also wears a jaunty chapeau. I loving love adorable things that have faces like this. LOOK AT IT
Cleanly installed.
Then the dryer which, disappointingly, has neither face nor hat.
Original though so probably good it’s getting replaced.
And replacing this sensor because the guy who sells the dryer recommends it. Mine works. You can tell by unplugging it and if that makes your fan go on it works. I still replaced it because I’d ordered them together.
So shiny.
While putting a vacuum on for 90 minutes (as long as folks recommend? Maybe not, but when your vacuum pump is attached to a converter hooked up to the battery you cut some corners on time.), I addressed another issue. See those little empty holes in the black bracket on top of the condenser?
Two of them get a couple of rivnuts.
Because the genuine Mercedes-Benz brand grill had been hanging from the single silver bolt and was starting to crack. Two more bolts on each side (washers to come! But at least they’re matching black) should hold it in place a lot better and stop it from snapping in half.
“CAUTION: SYSTEM TO BE SERVICED BY QUALIFIED PERSONNEL” uh….
484 grams full.
184 grams empty. I switched tops because the brass colored one was for the old style cans and the silver one was for self sealing cans. You can tell the difference because the little punch that comes down to open the can up is a cylinder for self sealing and has a sharpened end for the old cans.
We have pressure going in!
And pressure on the high side too!
No pictures, but glorious cold air comes out of the vents now. Is it ice cold? Only if you’re talking about it in an ad. But it is great and a huge difference and should be enough to convince my family to use the van literally every when it’s hot out. I’ll check pressure again when I get back and hopefully it will still have plenty of coolant and blow cold and I can move on to the garage portion or maybe cleaning up some more rust.
builds character fucked around with this message at 01:04 on Aug 13, 2022
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Aug 11, 2022 16:57
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Jun 7, 2022 18:36
