I have been working on the climate of my '83 300SD. I've taken off the dashboard and the center console to see how is it that this thing works. Very confusing I must say. I can't honestly say I like the way they set it up to work with vacuum, I suspect I have more of one of the little pink vacuum actuators malfunctioning and a vacuum leak somewhere. I'd really like to switch the whole thing to something where I can manually set these things instead of relying on vacuum. I found this part ( Mercedes W126 Euro Dash Climate Control Unit 1268330014 | eBay ) and that looks a lot like what I have in mind. Looks like there would be a lot of $ and work involved in doing this though. Kinda wondering here if anyone has undertaken such a task and what your experience was; either fixing and troubleshooting the whole thing or switching to the other system? I'll post some pics of how the poor car looks today as soon as I upload them...
Thanks!

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[/SIGPIC]~cirrusman

1983 Mercedes Benz 300SD - Wife calls him "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"
[SIGPIC]




1983 Toyota Tercel (Tommy, The little Toyota that could)
1965 Ford F100 (Grandma Ford)
2005 Toyota Sienna (Elsa, Wife's ride)


Gone:
1988 Toyota Pickup
2004 Subaru Outback

1987 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham
1986 Volvo 740 GL Station Wagon - Piece of junk.
1981 Volvo 242 DL 2 Door - Hated to see it go. R.I.P.
1987 Pontiac Fiero GT

Swapping that CCU in is only a fraction of the work needed. You would need to find a manual CC W126 for parts, first gen, and swap the whole vent assembly in. Where vacuum pods are, there would need to be control cables.

When the climate control system functions correctly, like in my 83 300SD, it is a dream. You can basically take the Ron Popeil approach and "set it and forget it." I like having an early 80's car with automatic climate control. It was way ahead of its time. A lot of cars today don't even offer such an option. No cranking and wanking on manual knobs. Push one button and be comfortable. That's the Mercedes way!

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1991 F250 super-cab 7.3 IDI. (rebuilt by me) Banks Sidewinder turbo, hydroboost brakes, new IP and injectors.
2003 S430 - 107K
1983 300SD - Tanoshii - mostly restored ~400K+.
1983 300SD - Good interior. Engine finally tamed ~250K.
Monark Nozzle Install Video - http://tinyurl.com/ptd2tge

The klima in my 1989 420 works perfectly and its awesome, the only thing I ever have to change is whether I need A/C or not, and sometimes extra defrost. Thats it.

I do have weak heat from a bad monovalve diaphragm but its a summer car so its not important. The heat in my 190 is insane and excellent in the winter.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Fix it and enjoy it! As was said, the auto climate control is a sweet option....one button and your done....

This one should be a breeze to get working again, just try that with an early w123 Chrysler climate control.....

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You might want to look at my 1984 300D with Red interior thread before you undertake changing to a manual climate control.

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daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
Cluster Needles Paint
New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

Said it before, I'll say it again.... the "manual" system isn't manual. You select the fan speed and the air direction, but the system still controls temp. There are still vacuum pods moving the air doors. In addition it's dual zone. I imagine everything is different from the heater core, water valve, control units, air dampers.... if you're looking to save money it would be cheaper to get the fully automatic system working again since parts abound.

The automatic system really isn't all that complicated... a few temp sensors, the pushbutton unit, the control unit, water valve, the vacuum valves, and the blower.

-J

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

Getting the automatic system back to functionality is much less work than trying to convert to some sort of manual system. This is especially true on the W126 as dash removal is definitely not necessary. I've repaired, or changed every vacuum pod of the ACC system and now am enjoying it! The only difficult vacuum pod is the center pod and it isn't that bad.

Repair is quite simple really. Repair the pushbutton controller and replace the vacuum pods. If it lasts another 20-30 years, like the original, what more can you ask for.

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Sam

84 300SD 350K+ miles ( Blue Belle )

Concur with keeping it original. Also, everything is abundantly documented (any issue most likely exhaustively discussed) so you're not on your own.

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'83 SD, 2x '85 SD
You are entitled to your own opinions, you are not entitled to your own facts.

I'm convinced Thanks guys! As long as I took the dashboard off I'll be replacing it along with the center console. I'm finding lots and lots of broken plastic. POs didn't do my poor car any favors in the past as it seems...

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[/SIGPIC]~cirrusman

1983 Mercedes Benz 300SD - Wife calls him "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"
[SIGPIC]




1983 Toyota Tercel (Tommy, The little Toyota that could)
1965 Ford F100 (Grandma Ford)
2005 Toyota Sienna (Elsa, Wife's ride)


Gone:
1988 Toyota Pickup
2004 Subaru Outback

1987 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham
1986 Volvo 740 GL Station Wagon - Piece of junk.
1981 Volvo 242 DL 2 Door - Hated to see it go. R.I.P.
1987 Pontiac Fiero GT