After owning my 450SLC for over 20 years, there has really only been one thing that has disappointed me about the car. That is the performance of the A/C. I don’t think it was ever optimized for the Australian climate even when new. When you add in the use of R134A gas, plus aging components, on the days you really need it, it can’t...
After all the recent work done on my 250SE, I wanted to take it for an extended test drive. Its had motor and transmission mounts, front crank seal, re-sealed power steering pump, injectors, distributor cap and rotor, points, condenser, coil, plugs, alternator, voltage regulator and more done. The spark had been quite weak and the engine was carboned up. The Mercedes-Benz club have...
A week or so ago, I diagnosed that the likely cause of my non functional A/C in the 300SE was the W126 Klima relay. The second generation W126 went to a Klima relay to control the A/C compressor. The W126 Klima relay is more of a control unit than a simple relay. It has multiple inputs that determine if the A/C compressor should not...
There is an old saying that deaths come in threes. I’ve not had any deaths in the family, but I had the A/C dead in three cars at the same time. The easiest was the A/C in my 450SLC that just needed a re-gas. The W126 A/C has been more problematic. Just as I got the system in my 560SEC mostly finished, the A/C...
My fight with the W126 Air Conditioning system is almost over. When I purchased the car, the A/C worked rather well. After the water pump gave out, it looks like it shorted out the compressor clutch. Changing out the clutch is not much different to changing out the whole compressor, so I sourced a new compressor and receiver/drier. This was rather irritating as working...
Previously, I had identified that the cause of my A/C problems was the fuse blowing. I have been narrowing down the problem more and more to the compressor clutch. Therefore, I wanted to eliminate everything else as the compressor is every expensive and beyond my skillset. I had already unplugged two other components that are part of the fuse 5...
When I purchased my 300SE, the A/C worked well. I assume the overall Climate Control system did too. I never did test anything more than max A/C as the weather was very hot. Everything seemed fine, except for the little aspirator fan which was noisy. Unfortunately 3 weeks after purchase, the A/C stopped working. I was sitting at red traffic lights and...
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