By spending piles of cash.

__________________
I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

.......well........yes.......that's one way to do it........ ............

Been there, got the t-shirt.

Most of the pods are pretty easy to access just by removing the passenger knee panel and glove box. However, the center pod is quite the PIA. For help with that one, go to post #9 here: 300SD Climate Control
Better to do it now while it is still "cool" in Texas.

__________________
Sam

84 300SD 350K+ miles ( Blue Belle )

Sam, supposedly the rebuild of the larger dual pods is not adviseable due to the fact that the diaphragm travel will be restricted. In looking at the replacement diaphragm, it's clear that the replacement is missing a fold of rubber that is present on the factory diaphragm. I'm fairly sure that the travel must be reduced with this diaphragm. Dave Meimann also confirms the same thing with these diaphragms.

Did you notice any travel reduction when you rebuilt the duals? The small section of the duals is fine......it's the larger rear section, with the plastic cap, that is the issue.

Hey Hitman
The part you are showing is a vacuum change over valve. If I remember right there are about 5 of these. I had them in both my 84's. They are control valves that operate the vacuum pods. The only time mine went out is when they were flooded with oil (bad shut off valve). Fast lane has these to. You need to look under (Body Mechanical & Trim ) I told Phil that these parts are listed in the wrong section. He said he could not make changes in the setup.

__________________
2009 CLS550 55,000
2004 ML350 144,000
2004 X5 95,000
2002 X5 165,000
1996 320S 155,000 (sold)
1991 190E 192,000 (sold)
1989 300SE 160,00 (sold)
1984 300D 210,000 owned since 85, (sold)
1984 300SD 160,000 (sold)

The only dual, if I recall correctly, was one of the pods for the fresh/recirc (there are two). Since mine was functioning properly, that was one I did not replace. However, the pods, even for this, looked identical and I'm not sure what the problem might have been with a different year/model. I have not dealt with a W123 so I am unsure if there might be a difference with their pods.

(When I talked to the guy at autoluxmb, he seemed to be pretty straight-forward and helpful so I don't think he would steer anyone wrong for a $5 pod diaphram.)

__________________
Sam

84 300SD 350K+ miles ( Blue Belle )

There are three duals on the W126.......one for the defrost, and the pair for the fresh/recirc.

Yes, he's very helpful, but, when confronted with the issue on the larger pods, he immediately agreed and suggested that he had no rubber diaphragms that were of a greater length. So, I have the feeling that he knows the replacement for the larger pod is not the best.

The defrost was the other pod that I did not deal with. Hmmm......well, I guess I was fortunate in that the ones that needed a different diaphragm did not give me trouble.

I will say that the duals are about the easiest ones to access if they need to be changed later.

Is the diaphragm different for just one side of the dual pods?

__________________
Sam

84 300SD 350K+ miles ( Blue Belle )

Yes, one side takes the standard replacement diaphragm......the same as found on the singles.

The larger side.......close to the actuating rod.......has a diaphragm that cannot be removed. You have to cut most of the old one out and the replacement sits on top of the old one. This cuts down on the available travel because the replacement has less rubber to fit in the same space.

Definitely, the three duals are very easy to R & R. But, due to the aforementioned issues.........and I've purchased all the diaphragms from Autolux for this little escapade........I've reversed course and bought two new duals.

Not having a working system before, I could not tell if there was a difference in performance. Besides, I have some other issues.

The replacement dual pods are kind of pricey, aren't they?

__________________
Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

They are close to $50. each.........but.......if the replacement won't open the doors fully............

You might find salvage ones that could be checked for functionality.

I wonder what the drawbacks in operation are..... a little less defrost air on this car might not be too bad. However, I'm thinking the fresh/recirc could be a problem if the door did not close all of the way.

Hmmm.......I wonder if the guy at autoluxmb would be interested in carrying the long travel diaphragms. I guess it would depend on who does the manufacturing and the costs to set it up. It might be worth a try to see if he would look into this.

__________________
Sam

84 300SD 350K+ miles ( Blue Belle )

It's difficult to explain, but, you cannot properly rebuild the large end of the dual diaphragm because you cannot get the diaphragm out of the unit. You have to cut most of the existing diaphragm away and add a new diaphragm and plastic piece on top of the existing piece. So, the new diaphragm must be shorter to fit in the same space. The result is reduced travel.

It would not be possible to provide a proper diaphragm for the duals, unless you can figure out how to completely disassemble one of them. After spending two hours with one..........I cannot determine how they put the whole thing together without a machine. It has a spring, a diaphragm, two plastic ends, and a brass rod and none of it will disassemble.

Ohhhhhh!

__________________
I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

Yeah, I couldn't recognize it because it looks 5X larger than actual.

There are six of them on a bracket that sits just to the right of the radio/CCU. You access them by pulling out the panel on the side of the tunnel.

This is the place where you begin all the troubleshooting. You disconnect the vaccum output from each of these solenoids and apply the Mityvac. The one's that leak are your culprits.

But, be careful.......some of them feed two pods.......and you can fool yourself into thinking one of them is bad........when it's actually OK.