Replaced the evaporator core in my 1987 300E over the past few days without the use of a manual. The results of my research here was all that I needed. The worst part of the job was getting the AC compressor to restart when adding refrigerant, it refused to kick in. After checking fuses, relays, sensor switches, vaccuum lines, bypassing switches to make sure the clutch worked, I was about to give up until I spent another hour here and found a post that said to MAKE SURE THE TACH IS RECONNECTED, OR THE RELAY WONT KICK THE COMPRESSOR CLUTCH IN. Well, since I tore out the dash, and was not about to put it back together without checking everything first, needless to say, my tach was disconnected. That was my problem, reconnected it and everything was fine. Many thanks to all of the posters here.

Congratulations-- did you calculate how many hours this took you?

I have to do vacuum pods on my CE and am just a bit curious how long the entire job took. I figure the pods will take roughly half the time of the entire job.

__________________
1989 300ce 129k
( facelifted front,updated tail lights, lowered suspension,bilstein sports, lorinser front spoiler, MOMO steering wheel, remus exhaust,stainless steel brake lines). (Gone)

1997 s320 154k (what a ride). Sold with 179k miles. Replaced with Hyundai Equus

1994 e320 Cabriolet 108k



1972 280se 4.5 153k Owned for 12 yrs, sorry I sold it


[/SIGPIC]

I've never done the evap, but when I did the pods on my 300E last year, it took me 18 hours over three days. This was doing it for the first time, with the shop manual, but in no particular hurry, and with a cold to boot.

I did pods in about 15, but I also put a heater core in at the same time without pulling the box. I think the book time is a little over 15 hours for the evap, and the pros that do it frequently can probably hit that time.

Good luck,

Can you see the evap with just the blower motor out? I need to check mine to see if it has nasty dirt buildup causing poor cooling. I just pulled my dash out last week for the first time to check all the pods, took me 3.5 hours out and back in. My A/C ran without the instrument cluster hooked up at all. If you see this Larry Bible, did you get my message?

I'm not sure what model you are working on, but on the 87 300 e, the blower is behind the evap.

It took me about 20 hours, including several hours spent here, and all over the net doing research. I also did not remove the box, as I could not find instructions that complete that mentioned breaking the seals from the firewall. After screwing around for an hour, with all of the clips, bolts, and screws removed, I Dremeled off part of the right side of the box in order to slide out the evaporator! I used roofing Butyl sealant caulk to seal it back up, and held it in place with heavy duty HVAC metal tape until the Butyl set up.

Glad I used the dremel, and restrained myself from going for the sledge hammer.

I am not an automotive tech, but I have done almost all of my own work over the past 30 yrs. Exceptions include: Auto trans rebuild, strut replacement, or anything that MUST be done with a crane and a lift.

Thanks again for your help that I gleaned from other posts.

My bad....91 300E.
Im hoping to see the evaporator when taking out the blower motor, so I can check for gunk or buildup on the evap causing poor cooling.