I have a 1994 S500 with 151,000 miles. The car runs great, I bought it a couple years ago. It was a one owner car. So far I've got the the lower bushings replaced, brakes, battery, etc, just mainly maintainence stuff. I still have yet to experience this infamous AC EVAPORATOR failure that is going to cost many thousands of dollars to fix. Is it likely that the old owner may have had this problem and already got it fixed? What exactly does this part do and where can I look under the hood to see if I have a new one. Finally, if my original AC EVAP is still working, is it for sure it will fail? Aren't there s500 owners out there who have not had their AC fail?

for all of the AC things you wanted to know but . . . It's contained in MENU#15. You can read the operating parameters out on the dash.

One ALMOST sure sign is sort of a musty, mildew smell coming from the vents. You can then almost guarantee that the evap sprung a leak. You cant see an evap without taking the car apart. Check MENU#16 for a picture of same.

And one of my favorite lines in one of my favorite movies ". . be afraid. be very afraid"!

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Regards . . . . JimF
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'94 S500 Cpe

Visit my Mercedes Web Page

Although these evaporators do indeed have a high failure rate, that does not mean that it is guaranteed to fail. When mfg's or shops talk about high failure rates, they are only seeing the failures. If a particular item fails on 15% of the vehicles, that is a very high failure rate. So, the odds are still in your favor.

Fear not, but pay close attention,

yes, you are fortunate. Mine went out almost 2 years ago and had it fixed for $3k. Since the car was apart( it truly is an ugly sight) they also replaced all the vacuum actuators and a few other misc items like bulb in gear**** console, etc. Works great, now but man what a bummer when it went bad.

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