Gurgling noise... possibly the air conditioning?

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mic1981

New Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2021
Messages
27
Location
Cheshire
Car
2008 C220 CDI Sport
My '08 C220 was recently in the local Mercedes dealership where they carried out an air-con refresh. Since collecting the car, I've noticed that it intermittently makes a gurgling noise that sounds like it's coming from somewhere around the center console. The best way I can describe it is that it's very similar to the noise made when the last bit of water goes down the plug hole when emptying a sink or bath. Sometimes it happens immediately after starting the engine, while other times it happens mid-journey, and only seems to happen once per journey. It's not particularly loud, but it is loud enough to be heard over the radio when at low volume. It doesn't last very long, maybe 1-2 seconds at most. The noise happens regardless of whether the air-con is on or off.

I've had the car a few weeks now and it definitely wasn't making this noise prior to the visit to Mercedes.

Any ideas?
 
A bit of air floating around the heater core., it should work itself out with use.
 
Low aircon pressure on Mercs tends to sound like a hissing/death rattle from the centre console. Not heard a gurgling sound before.

You can use iCarsoft or something similar to get a live readout from the air con pressure sensor. When at approx 20 degrees C system temperature and steady state having sat overnight, you should be seeing something around the 5 to 5.5 bar region. If it's dropped below that, it would strongly suggest an aircon leak.

Could also be air in the heater core as suggested, which would work itself out, but I would only expect this if Merc dropped the radiator coolant for some reason whilst it was in. Did it have a coolant change? Coolant rated for 15 years. I'm about to change mine after 10 with genuine Merc coolant.
 

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