I have the instrument panel out of my 1996 C280 with over 250,000 miles, so that I can look for a vacuum leak that I expect to find in a flap actuator. Even if I don't have to go into the evaporator case to fix this leak, I may want to look at the evaporator to see if it shows signs of leaking refrigerant (I know that my compressor leaks, but I'm not confident of everything else).

Using Alldata's procedure, I have removed the wiper assembly, and am now trying to remove the water collector underneath it. Alldata is telling me to remove the center portion of the firewall, and then the Engine Control and ABS control first. I think that's the wrong order, and it appears to me that I may need to remove some other things to remove the firewall. I'm not confident of this particular procedure.

Has anyone done this? Are there any shortcuts I can take to remove the water collector and access the evaporator and heater core connections without moving all of this stuff around near the firewall?

Thanks.

Be very careful with AllData, at least on the W202. I did not renew mine since they had some completely wrong info in it (not all but some). They showed seats and other parts from different cars for example. What you say strikes me as incorrect but I don't know. Hopefully someone can give you a definitive answer.

Mike

__________________
1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

W202 have multiple parts and I assume repair procedures, When I buy parts from the dealer I always have my vin ready. Just the brake pads alone have different variations.

The point about differences based on VIN is a good one, and is likely the root of the problem, but unfortunately Alldata isn't giving me another choice.

I guess I'm just losing patience with this project. It's obvious that I have to remove other systems to get any further from the engine compartment side, but I'm not sure yet that I really have to (I'm hoping I can identify and replace the bad vacuum element(s) on the cabin side without tearing anything else apart), and I just want to fix my most immediate problems at this point.

I can see that I need to replace the evaporator drain hoses, but I haven't seen any dye in the one I accidentally ripped open, so even though I have a lot of hours invested in getting the instrument panel off, perhaps I should stop thinking about replacing anything else just because I'm already in there.

Steve

Access to the vacuum elements is from the cabin side, no need to touch anything on the engine side unless you like complication. http://kropf.net/w202/Dashboard.html.
Good luck.

Thanks Shandy!

It looks like Zade was able to replace vacuum elements ("billows") without going any further on the cabin side than I already have, though I'm not sure that would be true for all of the elements that are in the car (my vacuum tests indicate problems with the Fresh Air and Defroster elements, and/or their lines.) Without the new parts in hand, I can't visualize how to get the old ones off.

I removed the lines from their individual "L connectors" by heating them with a hair drier, but I'm beginning to think that may cause problems when I try to get them back on. Oh well.

Steve