A-AvantGarde
MB Enthusiast
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2003
- Messages
- 4,693
- Location
- South Bucks
- Car
- 2023 Mercedes EQC400, 2015 Porsche 911 Turbo S, 2019 BMW X5 40i
Hi all, I’m having trouble with the air conditioning on my W203, whilst driving along, all of a sudden it seems to have stopped working ;-(
The first I noticed was that the windows steamed up (no jokes please!), looking down at the control panel, the EC light is now permanently lit. I’ve searched the forums and it looks most likely that my system is out of refrigerant (well at least I hope that’s all it is!).
I had upgraded to the luxury climate control panel a few years ago. The systme appeared to be working fine for the last few years (both before and after the upgrade to the luxury climate control panel. The only change in the way the system worked that I can think of prior to this was a few months ago. Pressing the defrost button for the front screen, used to set the temp to ‘HI’ and the blower to full – for the past few months it hadn’t done this - it would increase the blower speed (but not to full) and the temperature wouldn’t automatically switch to ‘HI’
I’m reluctant to take it to a main dealer for the cost (and because my panel is non-standard). I don’t want to be charged diagnostics for them to come back and say your control panel isn’t from this car!
I’ve also tried the reset procedure which involves pressing the recirc and defrost buttons together for more than 5 seconds. This process didn’t seem to work, it just kept cycling around.
I’ve posted the diagnostic values below:
Sensor 1 - Inside Temperature: 25
Sensor 2 - Outside Temperature: 19
Sensor 3 - Left Heater Core Temperature: 31
Sensor 4 - Right Heater Core Temperature: 31
Sensor 5 - Evaporator Temperature: 28
Sensor 6 - Engine Coolant Temperature: 85
Sensor 7 - Refrigerant Pressure: 6
Sensor 8 - Refrigerant Temperature: 25
Also found this site which looked interesting: http://www.eclassbenz.com/acdiag
Their summary is:
• Your climate control data has been received.
• Your sensor values were automatically converted from Celsius to Fahrenheit. All temperatures on this page are given in Fahrenheit and pressure in bar unless otherwise noted.
• Your 'EC' light must be off for the A/C to work. If the light will not shut off when you press the 'EC' button, this usually means one of three things: (1) You're low on refrigerant; (2) You have a defective refrigerant pressure sensor (usually caused by excess moisture in the system); or (3) You have a defective refrigerant temperature sensor.
• We hope that this diagnosis tool helped you solve your air conditioning problem and maybe even saved you a bunch of money. If you found it helpful, and would like to say "thank you," please consider making a contribution.
Questions:
1. Bearing in mind I upgraded the control panel is it possible that any STAR diagnostics checks may through up spurious codes? Any ideas / recommendation on a specialist (based in Camberley, work in High Wycombe) Possibly can go further afield.
2. Should I change the panel back to the standard one, is there anything in the panel that could cause the behaviour?
3. Roughly what sort of cost would I expect to be looking at for an Air con recharge on a W203 C320? I read some interesting posts on here about Kwik Fit’s air con recharge service. Wouldn’t normally go there but it looks tempting – especially at their price of less than £50!.
4. Do you think KwikFit would refuse trying to recharge my system seeing as the EC light is permanently lit? – They probably won’t have a clue what it means anyway!
Hope it’s nothing more serious than the gradual loss of gas over the last few years…
The first I noticed was that the windows steamed up (no jokes please!), looking down at the control panel, the EC light is now permanently lit. I’ve searched the forums and it looks most likely that my system is out of refrigerant (well at least I hope that’s all it is!).
I had upgraded to the luxury climate control panel a few years ago. The systme appeared to be working fine for the last few years (both before and after the upgrade to the luxury climate control panel. The only change in the way the system worked that I can think of prior to this was a few months ago. Pressing the defrost button for the front screen, used to set the temp to ‘HI’ and the blower to full – for the past few months it hadn’t done this - it would increase the blower speed (but not to full) and the temperature wouldn’t automatically switch to ‘HI’
I’m reluctant to take it to a main dealer for the cost (and because my panel is non-standard). I don’t want to be charged diagnostics for them to come back and say your control panel isn’t from this car!
I’ve also tried the reset procedure which involves pressing the recirc and defrost buttons together for more than 5 seconds. This process didn’t seem to work, it just kept cycling around.
I’ve posted the diagnostic values below:
Sensor 1 - Inside Temperature: 25
Sensor 2 - Outside Temperature: 19
Sensor 3 - Left Heater Core Temperature: 31
Sensor 4 - Right Heater Core Temperature: 31
Sensor 5 - Evaporator Temperature: 28
Sensor 6 - Engine Coolant Temperature: 85
Sensor 7 - Refrigerant Pressure: 6
Sensor 8 - Refrigerant Temperature: 25
Also found this site which looked interesting: http://www.eclassbenz.com/acdiag
Their summary is:
• Your climate control data has been received.
• Your sensor values were automatically converted from Celsius to Fahrenheit. All temperatures on this page are given in Fahrenheit and pressure in bar unless otherwise noted.
• Your 'EC' light must be off for the A/C to work. If the light will not shut off when you press the 'EC' button, this usually means one of three things: (1) You're low on refrigerant; (2) You have a defective refrigerant pressure sensor (usually caused by excess moisture in the system); or (3) You have a defective refrigerant temperature sensor.
• We hope that this diagnosis tool helped you solve your air conditioning problem and maybe even saved you a bunch of money. If you found it helpful, and would like to say "thank you," please consider making a contribution.
Questions:
1. Bearing in mind I upgraded the control panel is it possible that any STAR diagnostics checks may through up spurious codes? Any ideas / recommendation on a specialist (based in Camberley, work in High Wycombe) Possibly can go further afield.
2. Should I change the panel back to the standard one, is there anything in the panel that could cause the behaviour?
3. Roughly what sort of cost would I expect to be looking at for an Air con recharge on a W203 C320? I read some interesting posts on here about Kwik Fit’s air con recharge service. Wouldn’t normally go there but it looks tempting – especially at their price of less than £50!.
4. Do you think KwikFit would refuse trying to recharge my system seeing as the EC light is permanently lit? – They probably won’t have a clue what it means anyway!
Hope it’s nothing more serious than the gradual loss of gas over the last few years…
Still have to see if I can get it coded to get both running lights on each side, just been really really busy with the new job so haven't had time to take it anywhere.