As they say, they come in three's. First it was the engine wiring loom, then the engine oil leak from the head gasket. Now, to top it all off the evaporator is leaking.(Plus I'm still battling with my central locking) What next ??!! Well I,m not going to give up yet dispite the $.Is there a step by step guide to tackle this major operation in replacing an evaporator??

I have a 95 E420(W124) but had to face the dreaded evaporator replacement. Expect to spend about $2500-$3000 to fix, which in my case I also had all the vacuum switches, etc replaced since the dash was out anyway. No problems since then( about 1 year) but I have a shop that does excellent work and only works on MB's. I played around with re charging the system a couple of times but athe leak just got worse and worse so finally had to bite h bullet. To me it was well worth the price since my 420 is like new and I plan to drive it for a much longer time

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95 E420 ( 76K) SOLD
85 380SE(125k)
95 SL500(72k)

The instructions to replace the evaporator might have been posted before. You might get lucky if you try the search function.

You basically have to remove the steering wheel, the dash, and everything underneath to get to the evaporator.

They are also probably other things to replace while you're in there. On W124's, the advice is to always replace the three vacuum actuated pods. Your W140 probably has something similar.

If I'm not mistaken, the book rate is something like 21.5 hours.

The evaporator itself is somewhere in the neighborhood of $400-$500 U.S. dollars.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

Many thanks to the usefull answers I've been getting. Great to see that people are prepared to offer valuable time & one of the greatest assets in this industy; practical knowledge

JimF has posted a pic on page 5 of the following thread of what a W140 car looks like with everything removed to replace the evaporator.

Warning: It's a very scary picture.

Are W140's as expensive to maintain as everyone makes them out to be?

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

JimF that's not a scary pic with dash removed that's a full on turnoff!! Glad xmas is comin up. The very best to everyone especially those W140 owners!
Tony

. . . has a small leak and can be fixed by an leak-sealer. Check out MENU#16 and give it a try. What do you have to lose???

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Regards . . . . JimF
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'94 S500 Cpe

Visit my Mercedes Web Page

It's now three weeks since I flushed the entire system, replace the filter, installed the Wurth (Super A/C Leak stop with U/V Dy, Article No. 1892764322)
and the centre vent Temperature is still on 5-7 deg Celsius. Looking good so far
will keep you posted.

Website to find the product, log on & go to catalog.
www.wurth.com.au

. . different than the s/l I used. Glad that it's working for you. Your leak must have been small since they don't work if it's a large leak. Note the U/V dye to ". . locate the leak"!

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Regards . . . . JimF
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'94 S500 Cpe

Visit my Mercedes Web Page