W124 aircon factory fitted or not?

[Williamwoo]

Hi all,

I was told that I needed to replace the two pipes that head forward from the condenser on the bulkhead as the valves that are integrated into the pipes are unserviceable. So I ordered the pipes (from a main dealer) but the new ones do not have valves in them. I queried this and the long and short of it is that they are saying that the aircon must have been fitted retrospectively at some point. Is there any way of finding out what options etc the car had when it came out of the factory?

Many thanks in advance

 

[BillyW124]

The dealer would be able to tell you if you give them your VIN number...they will bring up your data card

 

[grober]

After market gear was often made by a company called DAVIA . These guys may? be able to help. Reader Air Conditioning - Diavia, Vehicle Air Conditioning, Car Air Conditioning, Air Con, A/C, Installations, Parts, Service, Air Conditioning Equipment, Gas up, Refrigeration, Heating

 

[kingdave]

Follow this link and enter your vin.

Êàòàëîã çàï÷àñòåé Mercedes, ïîäáîð àâòîçàï÷àñòåé äëÿ Ìåðñåäåñ ïî àâòîêàòàëîãó.

My 124 has aircon and I see this option in the output there as:
580 AIR CONDITIONING

 

[Williamwoo]

Thanks all for your replies, especially Kingdave for that link - very useful.

It would seem that my car did indeed not have aircon factory-fitted. However, whoever did fit it seems to have done a very good job as it looks indistinguishable from factory-fitted (at least to a casual observer such as me!).

 

[kth286]

Thanks all for your replies, especially Kingdave for that link - very useful.

It would seem that my car did indeed not have aircon factory-fitted. However, whoever did fit it seems to have done a very good job as it looks indistinguishable from factory-fitted (at least to a casual observer such as me!).

Those aftermarket systems were designed specifically for the respective models ie in your case the E class Merc of the time.

 

[SL300-24]

To muddy the waters a little, some were supplied with air-con partially fitted at the factory with the dealer finishing the fit prior to delivery. I recently found this out when sourcing parts for my w124.

Druk has a mate in Mercedes Edinburgh who did some investigating for me. The Vin shows no air-con when reading the data card in WIS. However when searching WIS on the chassis number some air-con parts are shown as applicable to my car, some are not applicable but are obviously fitted.

 

[Deleted member 11979]

A good way to tell is to look at the wooden trim around the holes which the 3 air con buttons protrude from, if the edge of the cutout is bevelled as those for the rotary dials etc, then factory fit (unless wood trim replaced), if no bevel then chances are aftermarket as they cut a new rectangular hole, may not be infallible, but it is the case on my car with aftermarket a/c

 

[Williamwoo]

Thanks again all. How intriguing! Calvin, thanks for the tip - the edges for the three buttons are indeed not beveled, which confirms that it must be aftermarket. Re Grober's post, I will try and contact Diavia. Does anyone know of any other company that was known to install aircon on 124s at the time?

 

[SL300-24]

Thanks for the info mine has the bevelled edges, so looks factory but does not show on the datacard....strange.