SimonsMerc
MB Enthusiast
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2004
- Messages
- 1,147
- Location
- Sudbury, West London
- Car
- Merc S212 E350 CDI BlueEfficiency Sport 256bhp, Suzuki GSX-650F, Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Dynamic
Heyas,
Well, over the last couple of weeks since we've had the hot weather, we've noticed our Air Conditioning just isn't working. It's not blowing cold air, just sorta normal temperature air. A few days ago, the EC (economy) light came on and stayed on - it can't be turned off, so the air con can't be turned on.
I took the car to the guy reccomended here on the forum, from www.ac4cars.co.uk, near Bluewater in Dartford. I live just north of the river in Chafford Hundred, so it was a quick hop for me. Very knowledgable guy, tested the pressure of the coolant in the system (5 bars) and said that it should be working. Connected up a cable to the battery (which I found under the rear seat after about 5 minutes of confused looking!), and he connected this to a wire and then sent current through it - and the system jumped. So from what he says, everything should be working, and he thinks it's just some sort of merc specific sensor somewhere. He sent me off to an MB dealer to get a read out off the diagnostic machine to see what the error actually is and get it fixed.
At the MB dealer (lakeside *shiver*), they said that 5 bars isn't enough pressure and that Mercs require at least 7 or else they won't let the AC run. This makes no sense at all - surely the *amount* of coolant is important, and the pressure will vary according to temperature? Even worse, he said that what they do is book the car in, re-gas it with dye, and charge me £140, then I can come back a week later and they find where it's escaping. Silly dealer. :-(
One thing the AC guy from ac4cars.co.uk (John) found was a way of getting the AC system into diagnostic mode (set both sides of climate control to LO, turn engine on, press recirc and rest down and hold for 5 seconds). In this mode, the auto buttons scroll through various "menus" with a readout. However, as these are just numbers (sequential on the left, a read-out on the right) and I don't have a key/explanation of what they mean, they don't help much.
Not sure what to do now. Guess I need to find a merc specialist with Star Diagnostics machine - anyone know of one near the Grays area of Essex? Any other potential hints?
Cheers,
-simon
Well, over the last couple of weeks since we've had the hot weather, we've noticed our Air Conditioning just isn't working. It's not blowing cold air, just sorta normal temperature air. A few days ago, the EC (economy) light came on and stayed on - it can't be turned off, so the air con can't be turned on.
I took the car to the guy reccomended here on the forum, from www.ac4cars.co.uk, near Bluewater in Dartford. I live just north of the river in Chafford Hundred, so it was a quick hop for me. Very knowledgable guy, tested the pressure of the coolant in the system (5 bars) and said that it should be working. Connected up a cable to the battery (which I found under the rear seat after about 5 minutes of confused looking!), and he connected this to a wire and then sent current through it - and the system jumped. So from what he says, everything should be working, and he thinks it's just some sort of merc specific sensor somewhere. He sent me off to an MB dealer to get a read out off the diagnostic machine to see what the error actually is and get it fixed.
At the MB dealer (lakeside *shiver*), they said that 5 bars isn't enough pressure and that Mercs require at least 7 or else they won't let the AC run. This makes no sense at all - surely the *amount* of coolant is important, and the pressure will vary according to temperature? Even worse, he said that what they do is book the car in, re-gas it with dye, and charge me £140, then I can come back a week later and they find where it's escaping. Silly dealer. :-(
One thing the AC guy from ac4cars.co.uk (John) found was a way of getting the AC system into diagnostic mode (set both sides of climate control to LO, turn engine on, press recirc and rest down and hold for 5 seconds). In this mode, the auto buttons scroll through various "menus" with a readout. However, as these are just numbers (sequential on the left, a read-out on the right) and I don't have a key/explanation of what they mean, they don't help much.
Not sure what to do now. Guess I need to find a merc specialist with Star Diagnostics machine - anyone know of one near the Grays area of Essex? Any other potential hints?
Cheers,
-simon
