Hello
I am new to this forum so please be gentle with me if this has been previously posted.
I had smoke and electric short smell coming from vents and climate control buttons on my dash come out and fill the cabin.
I thought my whole car was going to go up and flames.
My a/c, fan and heater no longer are functioning, however hot air comes through the vents.
I tried to find a fuse in the engine compartment for the A/C unit but no luck.
Does anybody know what could have happened and offer advice on how to fix whatever is broken?
thanks in advance
Pedro

Pedro, what year & model car?

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sorry
I thought I had included this information!
1995 E320 162K miles.
Pedro

Hello
I uploaded pics of my AC control unit. Anybody know why it would have fried like that? WHat else could be bad? where do I go from here? I ordered a replacement control panel from ebay. Pics are in my album on my profile page
thanks in advance
Pedro

Hi Pedro, it looks like whatever component was there on the circuit board just overheated, but I couldn't tell you what failure caused it. All you can really do now is replace the control unit and make sure you have the correct rating fuse for it. It might be that a short had been causing the fuse to blow, and a prior owner "upgraded" the fuse without figuring out why it was blowing.

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Prost!

thanks Hirnbeiss
why do I have hot air blowing threw the vents? My new "used" controll pannel hasn't arrived yet, but I still have to figure out why the hot air. At least the smell is fading!
Pedro
By the way, which fuse # is the AC and what color should it be?

You need to start there...

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J.H.
'86 300E

You have 2 electric valves (solenoids) that control heat to the left and right heater cores in the passenger compartment. Those valves get voltage to close from the controller. If the controller is gone, they get no voltage, and you get full heat.

thanks guys.
Latest update: My control unit just arrived. I installed it and it works perfectly in the center vents only. The compressor kicks in but HOT air blows out the side vents while cold air blows out the center. When I turn on the defrost hot air also blows out teh defrost vents. Gremlins?? ANy ideas? Fuse, relays, if so where will I find them?
thanks again
Pedro

bump

Can somebody please recommend an excellent manual with lots of pictures so I can get my ride working smoothly again? I can't even figure out how to change the spark plugs!
Thanks
Pedro

A lot of info about the duo valve is here

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/search.php?searchid=3870577

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1996 E320 since 1/16/08, 171K miles as of Feb 2011

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1989 300CE - R.I.P. Dec 29 2007
Other MBs (sold): 1992 300E-24 - 1979 350SLC - 1984 230E - 1990 300CE

I cannot find a duo valve part # for my 1995 E320. I have only found a "mono" valve. Is this the same part? Where can I purchase the duo valve other than from the dealer?
thanks

bump?

can anybody help me get this link to work again. There was a place that offered the duo valve for 100 bucks and I can find their name because I cant get to this search anymore.
does anybody else have a source for the duo valve>? I am not about to pay 280 bucks from the dearler, I think I like the spark plug fix instead.
thanks
Pedro