By the way I did not even have to drain the system before opening it up. I hooked my gauges up and nothing. It was completely empty.

I hope I don't have a leaking evaporator, although I did notice that the o-rings on the dryer were shot. Hopefully the 134 ate through them. Thank god I have replacements.

The local Auto Zoo had a vacuum pump I borrowed by leaving a credit card deposit. If you are going the "vacuum" and "re-fill" route, you might want to perform a complete flush ---- and don't forget to replace the dryer.

^Yep, dryer and expansion valve are being replaced, just need the oil before I can put it in!

I was debating about doing a flush, and I guess I might as well do it while it's taken apart. I'll pick up some cans of it tomorrow when I hit up autozoo. I wonder if they have compressor oil, otherwise I need to draft up $50 worth of parts for Autohauz :D

They also have a flush unit that you can borrow ---- you will need an air compressor to hook up to it.

^Where did you get your compressor oil from?

I believe the "California wine country", napa ?

If you strike out at NAPA try these guys, they've got everything for the HVAC industry:

http://www.johnstonesupply.com/160/SearchResults/tabid/1781/Default.aspx?search=refrigeration%20oil&qty=

For a vacuum pump, try to find an old fridge or small A/C wall unit. If you have a bulk garbage pick up day where you live you can usually find one at the curb. When you find one, cut one of the lines to the compressor. If freon leaks out, pass it up...it's there cause the comp died. If you find one with no freon in the system you've hit the mother load. It's there cause the freon leaked out, but the comp's probably still good. These compressors make excellent vacuum pumps. You can get a fitting at Johnstone that you can solder on the suction side of the comp to connect your gauges to and voila...you've got a vacuum pump. Mine's been going strong for over 10 years now!

Okay I'm in a dire situation!

I uninstalled the old compressor, and when I did the two spacers fell out. Well both are different sizes, and I dont know which one goes where!

I'm just bolting it on dead for now, because I have to drive it tonight. Otherwise all I have to do is pull vacuum and it'll be done!

Klima I (not) Fun
 

Wow ~ no one here knows how to diagnose this wretched old system ? .

I don't have my notes here but it's fairly simple with a Multi-Meter and some bits of wire (I use an old plug from a junker) .

The firewall mounted valve is the ' emergency' by-pass hot water valve, with the engine running press the ' DEF ' (top) button on the CCU and it'll move as the CCU by-passes everything in the entire sytem and pops that valve open and turns the fan on high .

The normal hot water flow and fan controls are controlled by the servo , not the firewall mounted valve .

The servo also controls the various fan speeds .

The passenger side dash vent has low air volume because the flex duct behind the glovebox is loose at one end or the other , you'll see when you have the glovebox out .

The CCU is the dashboard push button unit , the thing behind the glovebox is the amplifier .

learning the correct nomenclature weill avoid you chasing your tail endlessly .

Any Mercedes HVAC system with vertical buttons is the wretched Klima I with the evel servo and DOES NOT HAVE A MONOVALVE .

I have used tested good Klima I amplifiers for $40.00 each delivered .

I have some metal body servos too but I may need one for my TD if and when I find one I like enough to buy... so none for sale just yet .

BTW : once this system is sorted out , it's really good ! heat in winter , 65* F in summer , even in 125* F Death Valley .

^Considering this thread is well over a year old, I have figured out this system more now then I had in my original post.

The flex duct remains open, but the pod holds vacuum.

I have about four different amps for the ac system, including two pulled from working ACCII vehicles. Also I have a CCU which I will replace.

I have waited until this point before going forth with any work, as I now know the system like the back of my hand.

Anyways, a little update about today:

I flushed out everything and created quite the mess. I was able to locate oil from Autozoo and thusly filled the dryer and compressor with it. Taking the compressor off was easy, getting it back on definitely is proving difficult. It would be much easier if it didn't weigh a billion pounds!

Also the o-ring kit I purchased that is 123 specific only has one o-ring that I need two of. Looks like I'll have to go grab some from Autozoo tomorrow. Other then bolting up everything properly, all I have to do is pull vacuum for an hour or two and then charge up the system and see if it works.

If not then I don't know what else to do.

I'm -NOT- An AC Tech
 

But I've been working on it for years and reading the manuals, taking classes & listening to the AC guys etc. .

They all say to only pull 20" or so vacuum for 30 min. to one hour as the water vapor boils quickly under I forget how many inches then it pulls out so you needn't run the vacuum pump for hours like most shops I know do .

Then leave the gauges connected for at least one hour to ensure no leaks before re-charging with your choice of refrigerant .

I'm still using R-12 as it -is- available if you hunt a bit , not too expen$ive either .

I am told the green O-Rings made for Japanese cars will resist R-12 or R-134a and are sold very cheaply by most FLAPS .

I have a kit of various size green O-Rings for the next time I replace a compressor , I'm trying to wait until I have sufficient $ to overhaul the engine first but AC is a must for us old farts and once running , the totally clapped out engine actually runs well and summer is nearly here so.....

^Well that's good to know, I probably would have left it on there for an hour plus.

I am replacing all the o-rings with green ones. However I need two of the same size for the expansion valve which I only got one of. Instead of putting the black one back on, I'll just pick up a generic o-ring kit when I return the flushing tool tomorrow.

Sadly I'll be using 134a. It's easier to get a hold of, and even though my condenser isn't made for it I've had good luck with it in my 190E and it blows cold enough. Cool air of any type is what I'm aiming for right now.

BTW :
 

' Norm ' is *SO* pretty ! .

I'm insanely jealous .

He's the same color as the Euro Spec. Wagon they junked in P-A-P when I was out of State over Christmas , they told me it had been for sale but only got offers of $500.00 so in the rows it went ~ NO RUST , not a speck .

Dagnabit :mad:

I'da happily given them $1,000 for it .

^Thanks! I love the car, I'll never part with it. It definitely is a great looking car, although it does have it's fair share of flaws. Rust being one of them, argh. I've treated most of it, but need to hit the small stuff asap.

It'll get a repaint eventually.

Crap.

Well after finishing up everything today, I went ahead and vacuumed the system and attempted to charge it up. The system took the charge, the compressor works and it's clutch engages, but yet I'm still getting hot air. I have good pressure in the system, everything functions like it should. It almost makes me wonder if all I really had to do was replace the o-rings with the green ones! But it's okay, it needed to be done anyways.

I really think that something is telling the servo to give me heat. I'm going to replace the CCU with one that Jimmy gave me tomorrow, I think that this may solve it. If not, I am either SOL or will have to drop another serious amount of money on a digital servo.

Sigh. :/