Repairs on my ’98 Mercedes e320
I used to have a 1998 Mercedes E320 Station Wagon.
We bought it used a long time back. At that time it had around 98k miles on it. I has been driven cross crountry twice! A very reliable vehicle but age is showing on it now. At this point we have around 157k miles on it.
Recently I have had a slew of items break down:
Here is what needed to be repaired:
- The driver side headlight’s xenon ballast conked out.
It was extremely expensive from the dealer [$1000] I replaced it with an after market one for $25! [gotta write that story]
- The AC’s blower motor’s regulator conked out. I replaced it with a used one $250.
- Now the AC is leaking. I am currently in the process of troubleshooting and repairing the AC
Here are my notes on its AC repair:
I started a thread at benzworld.org. I am hoping to get help from the community.
Other helpful threads:
Compressor Oil
It takes PAG46.
Make sure your PAG oil is double end-capped (DEC) PAG [The new PAG oils on the market are DEC anyway but make sure] They are much more stable in the presence of water.
Quantity of oil [as per the manual WIS]
130 ml needs to be added if you change the compressor [drain the new compressor and add 120 ml + 10ml if you replace the drier…..drier changing is mandatory anyway]
Draining oil from the compressor: [credits to Matt L]
You remove the crankcase plug from the compressor and drain oil from there and the ports while turning the shaft.
Pressures:
Pressures are dependent on the ambient temperature. Hence we use a chart for this.
- Max. high side pressure 220-240 PSI
- Low side pressure 40 PSI
Leak detection
A tool is helpful for leak detection. I heard on the ‘net that this tool is good: TEK-Mate Refrigerant Leak Detector
I ended up using a cheapo black light bulb from Home depot to detect where the leak was coming from. The dye in the oil glows green. I quickly found out that the condensor in the front of the radiator was leaking.
AC flushing:
Here is some detailed info I compiled into a post:
Tips:
- Note that running undercharged for a very long time will also kill your compressor due to lack of oil migration.