W124 climate control vacuum pod replacement - Page 15 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Hit Man X · #**211** 12-10-2016, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsxr

Wha...??!! That's not good. Well, I think the 2020 kit includes both diaphragms... if he still sells that kit, you could buy that and get the diaphragm you need (and toss the other one). If he doesn't sell any diaphragm kits, shoot, that is depressing news.

Otherwise yes, if someone could find a pod from a different chassis that uses the same diaphragm, you could buy one of those pods and swipe the diaphragm from it.

I believe another option is to buy one of the dual-diaphragm pods for the 124 (defrost or main air flap) and take the front diaphragm out to fix the center vent pod, but those are pretty spendy to part out ($40-$50 each).

BTW, thank you for keeping your site up after all these years!

On the diaphragms... I have used Perf Anal's unit to repair a bad defrost lower chamber (well, whatever is closer to the rod), the center vents on the W126, and many E23 BMW units.

That small W124 one actually fits the rear air vent unit in the E23. Saved me about $50 versus the BMW unit.

w123fanman · #**212** 01-28-2019, 02:16 PM

Seems to me that the 2010 kits are available now, based on my emails with George Murphy. How many diaphragms do I need in total, for a W124 (wanting to replace everything except the more oval shaped pod)?

gsxr · #**213** 01-29-2019, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by w123fanman

Seems to me that the 2010 kits are available now, based on my emails with George Murphy. How many diaphragms do I need in total, for a W124 (wanting to replace everything except the more oval shaped pod)?

The 2010 kit will fully repair the center vent pod, and will repair the outer portion of the 2 main air flap (recirculation) pods, and defrost pod. So, you need 4 total. The 2010 does not fit the footwell pods or the diverter.

What is current pricing on the 2010 kit, btw? Nice to hear they are available again.

w123fanman · #**214** 01-29-2019, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsxr

The 2010 kit will fully repair the center vent pod, and will repair the outer portion of the 2 main air flap (recirculation) pods, and defrost pod. So, you need 4 total. The 2010 does not fit the footwell pods or the diverter.

What is current pricing on the 2010 kit, btw? Nice to hear they are available again.

$7.50 each plus $8.95 shipping.

I made a separate thread but maybe this is the better thread for it, are the bodies of the 3 dual stage units the same? As in, could I just order three of the cheapest dual stage pod and change out the arms with what's on the car now? I'd sorta rather have everything new in there than leaving the big lift sections to chance (plus if I remember correctly, the big lift section on one of the units was testing as bad). It would seem that the vacuum pod itself is the same since he recommends the same kit for each of them. They sorta look the same in the pictures but I want to have these ordered before I pull out the dash.

nehuge · #**215** 06-06-2019, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsxr

Hi all, thought I'd share my recent foray into ACC repair:

Yesterday I replaced all the vacuum actuators (pods) for the climate control system in my sister's 1987 300D. Of the 6 total, only two are accessible without removing the dash - the pod for the floor vent flaps (pull the pushbutton unit to access this one), and the one for the defroster flaps (behind the glove box.) The other four - 1 center vent, 1 diverter, and 2 recirc - require pulling the dash. That means yanking the instrument cluster, steering wheel, p/b unit, glovebox, both lower trim panels, and then the whole dashboard. And then you need to pull off the top of the heater box to do the center vent & diverter pod, which is also a pain. This car (with 155kmi) had 4 bad pods: center vent, diverter, recirc (small lift), and defrost (small lift). Needless to say the system was NOT functioning as intended, although the ONLY symptom was a lack of air from the center vents with the A/C on. W124's are sneaky that way.

So, I've said it before and I'll say it again: If you own a W124, particularly one that's older or with high miles, you should check the operation of the pods to make sure your ACC is working as designed! It's easy to test. Pull the glovebox and the 7-port manifold is right there on the left side, attached to the heater box. Remove one hose at a time and connect a MityVac. Each hose should hold vacuum. If not, the rubber diaphragm for that pod is torn. You can identify the function from the ACC service manual, if you want to know what's not working (assuming it's not obvious). The pods from Rusty (or FastLane, etc) are ~$15-20 each for the single chamber ones (center vent, floor, and diverter), and $25-30 each for the dual chamber (both recirc and defrost). I've heard that George Murphy sells a diaphragm kit to repair the pods but I don't know details or pricing, or how hard it is to repair them.

It took me 2 hours to remove the dash, 1.5 hours to replace the 5 upper pods (I left the footwell pod alone), and 2 hours to reinstall the dash. Total was 5.5 hours. If you do this, I HIGHLY recommend replacing ALL the pods that require dash removal!!! This is NOT a job you want to repeat a few months down the road when the next old one fails. Change 'em all and then you don't need to worry about it for the next 10 years or 200kmi. The two exceptions are the ones that don't require dash removal; the defrost & footwell pods. These can be done at any time in 30-60 minutes.

Tips for installing: Leave the flat metal bars attached for the recirc pods. Undo the connector tabs at the pod and reconnect to the new pod. Most of the pods have a lock tab that must be pressed before they will rotate out (I learned that the hard way last time - don't ask.) The diverter pod is held in by 3 round metal press clips, so you need to break out the old one and save the mounting clips for the new pod. The center vent pod is the trickiest. Although the manuals says you need to pull the heater core (YUCK!) it is not necessary. Remove the white pin in the top door. Remove the door by flexing it out of it's hinges. Remove the flat metal rod from the pod. Pull the hose and twist the pod out, it will *just* wiggle out from under the mounting bracket. Oh yeah - just before you reinstall the dash, do the MityVac test one last time on all 7 hoses! Otherwise, if you forgot to connect a hose you need to repeat the 4 hour dash R&R job! (Oh, joy!)

For the record, of the three 1987 300D's I've tested, this is what I found:
=======================================================
Car 1 (155kmi) - bad center vent, diverter, recirc, and defrost
Car 2 (229kmi) - bad center vent, recirc, and footwell
Car 3 (238kmi) - bad diverter, recirc, and defrost

And a couple more 124's I've tested since the original post:
============================================
Car 4 (86 300E, 200kmi) - bad center vent, diverter, recirc, and footwell
Car 5 (87 300E, 110kmi) - bad center vent, recirc, and defrost

Part number list:
======================================================
124-800-00-75 = Defroster pod (dual chamber)
124-800-02-75 = Center vent pod (single chamber, twist-on)
124-800-03-75 = Diverter pod (single chamber, small, attaches w/3 clips)
124-800-04-75 = Recirculation / fresh air pod 1 (dual chamber)
124-800-11-75 = Recirculation / fresh air pod 2 (dual chamber)

124-800-01-75 = Footwell pod (round, small, to VIN A289309, 1986 to early 1987, two required)
124-800-09-75 = Footwell pod (rectangle, from VIN A289310, late 87 through 95, one required)

NOTE: Of the pods above, only the -02-75 (center vent) can be properly "rebuilt" using the diaphragm kits from Performance Analysis. The dual-chamber pods can only have the 'small lift' portion rebuilt properly. The diaphragm kits for the dual-chamber 'large lift' will restrict movement and should NOT be used... replace the recirc+defrost pods with new pods only! There are no rebuild diaphragms available of any kind (good OR bad) for the small round pods (diverter and early footwell), nor for the rectangle pods (late footwell).

Photos are at this URL:
Index of /images/W124_dash

Do yourself a favor - grab your MityVac, pull the glovebox, and check them out! Summer's coming up fast and a fully working ACC is a beautiful thing.

Best regards,

There's an excellent write up or how-to over at these other forums called the 500e forums (am I even allowed to point to other forums?) Anyways, it helped me greatly. It even discusses other pods that can be used in place of others or how to swap parts out of pods to "make" others:

https://www.put in the "500e forums part here" .co/forums/index.php?threads/how-to-replacing-c126-w126-acc-vacuum-pods.4230/

gsxr · #**216** 06-12-2019, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nehuge

There's an excellent write up or how-to over at these other forums called the 500e forums (am I even allowed to point to other forums?) Anyways, it helped me greatly. It even discusses other pods that can be used in place of others or how to swap parts out of pods to "make" others:

https://www.put in the "500e forums part here" .co/forums/index.php?threads/how-to-replacing-c126-w126-acc-vacuum-pods.4230/

The link above does have an excellent writeup, however note it is for the 126 chassis, not 124 chassis. There are differences between the two!

Copy/paste below, replace "xxxx" with "500E board", no space, to make the link work:

xxxx.co/forums/index.php?threads/how-to-replacing-c126-w126-acc-vacuum-pods.4230/

PeachParts banned links to that forum years ago for reasons that probably nobody remembers.

nehuge · #**217** 02-10-2020, 02:23 AM

For those of you out there that see this comment, I posted a long video on how to remove the W124 dash and how to replace the vacuum actuator pods for the climate control. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SU6CFb0W7s

Just trying to spread the word. Note that there are only 2 PN's left of the 6 PN's that are available from Mercedes or aftermarket. On the dual diaphragm pods you can buy one of the two pods that are available, remove their arms (white plastic just snaps it on), and you can take off the old arm from the old pod and transfer it to the new pod. NOTE: This trick only works on the dual diaphragm pods. Last resort you can get just the rubber diaphragm inside the pod that you can replace at a place called Performance Analysis in Tennessee, although you can't order on their website. You have to call them. Their part numbers for the two different diaphragms are 2010 and 2020. On the W124 and W126, you can use one of their diaphragm on the "center" pod, which is a single diaphragm. They are inexpensive, not sure how long they will be in business from the conversation I had with them. . Get a bunch and store them the rest of your life!

nehuge · #**218** 02-10-2020, 02:29 AM

For those of you out there that see this comment, I posted a long video on how to remove the W124 dash and how to replace the vacuum actuator pods for the climate control. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SU6CFb0W7s

Just trying to spread the word. Note that there are only 2 PN's left of the 6 PN's that are available from Mercedes or aftermarket. On the dual diaphgram pods you can buy one of the two pods that are available, remove their arms (white plastic just snaps it on), and you can take off the old arm from the old pod and transfer it to the new pod. NOTE: This trick only works on the dual diaphgram pods. Last resort you can get just the rubber diaphgram inside the pod that you can replace at a place called Performance Analysis in Tennessee, although you can't order on their website. You have to call them. Their part numbers for the two different diaphgrams are 2010 and 2020. On the W124 and W126, you can use one of their diaphgrams on the "center" pod, which is a single diaphragm. They are inexpensive, not sure how long they will be in business from the conversation I had with them. . Get a bunch and store them the rest of your life!

JMCLuimni · #**219** 05-29-2020, 06:58 PM

Ive replaced all 5 pods in my 87 300TD. Replaced the rubber connectors and have excellent vacuum strengths throughout.
I have not put the dash back on yet as I am not sure how much the fresh air/recirc air flap should travel. It seems that the bars that attach from the pods to the flap mechanisms move about 2-3” in and out of their respective pods and that the flap itself travels about 30 degrees from closed to open. Certainly does not open 90 degrees from vertical.
Does anyone know how much travel this flap should have?

gsxr · #**220** 05-29-2020, 07:24 PM

Are you applying vacuum to BOTH ports of the pods connected to the main air flap (fresh air / recirc)?

Also, did you replace with new pods, or rebuild old pods?

JMCLuimni · #**221** 05-29-2020, 10:56 PM

Yes I am. Both are replaced with new rubber connectors and all tested well on insertion....

gsxr · #**222** 05-30-2020, 09:57 AM

Any chance you can post a photo?

The flap should close the air inlet completely when vacuum is applied to both ports. I don't know what "angle" this is, or if it can be seen from inside the car. Viewed from outside (with wiper removed) the flap should be fully closed, blocking external air from entering.

JMCLuimni · #**223** 05-30-2020, 12:01 PM

Thanks for reply.
It’s not the closed part I have an issue with, it’s the opening. The flap only opens about 2 or 3” which doesn’t seem like a lot.
I’m not familiar enough with the way this cars air system works to understand how much the fresh air flap should open.
Impossible to take a photo as it wouldn’t do justice to the question...
Thanks

gsxr · #**224** 05-30-2020, 12:21 PM

Only photo I can find is from the other side, and the flap hangs vertically down with no vacuum applied. It should flip upward, closing air inlet with vacuum applied. Looks like roughly 45° of movement?

JMCLuimni · #**225** 05-30-2020, 09:34 PM

Ok. There may be a bigger issue here.
The two pods, that are used for the fresh air flap which are activated by the ECON button, are currently extended out ward when the HEVAC system is OFF and the flap door is closed. When I select ECON the pods retract pulling the bars controlling the vent flap thereby opening the flap about 30 degrees or 3”. When I turn off the HEVAC, or the 0 button, the pods extend and push their respective bar controlling the vent flap thereby closing the fresh air flap.
It seems from the videos Ive been watching about this HEVAC system and these particular pods, that mine are reversed from proper operation. My pods are extended when OFF is selected on HEVAC (the fresh air flap being closed) and retract when ECON is pressed (opening the fresh air flap) whereas in the video when the HEVAC is OFF the pods are retracted and when the ECON button is pressed the pods extend outwards and open the fresh air flap.
My question is, was I supposed to physically set the fresh air vent door to a position so that when I am connecting the Pods to the vent door control arms both Pods will be depressed inwards as a starting position?
My hoses “appear” to be plumbed correctly with the red air hose feeding to the most rearward air fitting on the pods and the green hoses to the most forward.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SU6CFb0W7s

Forward to 1:05:16 To see what I am talking about.

Suggestions?

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