The A/C just went out last week, and had shop to refill freon(green color), 5 days later the A/C is gone already. Just bought the R134a kit to refill by myself last night, after a whole day driving with A/C on, found out there is a "green" color liquid on my parking space. I went to shop and had car jackup, by looking underneath, the "green" stuff is leaking from a hose which is located on the top of the transmission pan area. what is possibily happen??
by the way, after first time the shop refill R134a freon, when I turn the A/C on, I could always smell something strange from insde of car. so when I found out the "green" stuff, I actually smell it, it smells the same as what I smell in the car when A/C is on.

You may be seeing leakage from the condensate drain, which could indicate a leaking evaporator. Happened to me. The refrigerant and oil can come out there and leave a puddle on your garage.

Obviously you need someone to accurately diagnose this problem before you'll know what to do about it. If if is a bad evaporator, that's a pretty big repair.

Good luck, and do a search on "evaporator".

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Steve
'93 400E

The drain is a a/c drain where the water leaks out from the evaporator case . If it coming from there you have an evaporator leak. This is not a DIYer job .Best bet is to bring it to a shop and have an ACM evaporator installed. Dont go with the factory unit cause it will leak again.

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euro 287
Mercedes Technician 7 Years (retired to Hyundai)
2000 Dodge Durango
98 Mazda truck

This "might" be the only time I would even consider a stopleak product (like Cryoseal) since I think the "book" time on this is > 25 hrs. for evap. replacement on a 140. There are serious consequences to these type of products, but some have had success (with the right experience, skill and luck). Positive diagnosis, first (but it seems like an evap. leak) then, second, see what a top A/C only shop has to say about alternatives. If you go with the "FULL MONTY" do use a better evaporator than OE as Euro 287 suggested. Cu vs. Al is a real consideration with factory PAG oil, due to even minute amounts of moisture forming HCl. If I went thru the evap. replacement, I'd have it switched to one of the new 134a oils (Texaco Capella HFC, I think ) to minimize future acid formation. (which is probably what got you in this predicament). Good luck and may it be something else that's really simple.

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The Golden Rule

1984 300SD (bought new, sold it in 1988, bought it back 13 yrs. later)

Can you tell me where the exactly evaporator located at? I would like to check it by myself to see if it's evaporator leaking or not. by the way, why it has to take 20hrs to replace the evaporator? is it that hard? 20hrs labor costs about $1360 for $68/hrs labor charge. It's a lot of money for labor.......sad...

I've only assisted a buddy on a 126 evaporator replacement (~17.9 hrs. book time), but I know the 140 is markedly tougher to do (I'm certainly no expert, but I hang around people much smarter than I am ). Entire dash disassembly to the "core" (a little MVAC humor, very little) is required. It is verrry difficult. You can't really get to it without disassembly, so it is usually checked with dye at the drain tube. As I mentioned before, make doubly sure it is evaporator before losing sleep. ( Although, unfortunately, it sounds like it is.) As far as location, evap. is dead center of cabin side of firewall, inboard a bit. If you decide on the "FULL MONTY" have dedicated Indie or trusted dealer do it. If you try the sealant route (many 140 owners have, rather than rebuild) try an A/C shop with a good attitude and lots of experience.

By the way, I believe it's 25+ hrs., not 20 (I could be wrong)

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The Golden Rule

1984 300SD (bought new, sold it in 1988, bought it back 13 yrs. later)

It's a terrible job: here's two photos. Please sit down first!!





It's very labor intensive as you can see. Parts/labor should get you into $2K+ easily.

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Regards . . . . JimF
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'94 S500 Cpe

Visit my Mercedes Web Page

A picture is worth 1000 words.

JimF, I hope that picture was taken for academic purposes and wasn't too close to home. That photo looks pretty much like a combat photographer's.

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The Golden Rule

1984 300SD (bought new, sold it in 1988, bought it back 13 yrs. later)

How can I check if it the evaporator is bad? the only thing that I can tell is dye coming out from the tube underneath the car, does that mean I have bad evaporator?? could it be some other hose or somthing beside evaporator??

First do not try a stop leak unless you want to chance ruining the system. This stuff is junk, I personally have seen it ruin compressors. Now if you want to check for the leak 2 ways to go about it. First put the car on a rack and stick a leak detector in the drain tube. Normally you will get a funny smell from dash vents (if 134a) Second ( how I do it for warranty companies) remove blower motor and you can stick a leak detector right on evaporator, (I use a boroscope I have) If it comes from the drain tubes then 99% evaporator leak. Labor time on this is 23.5 hours. That includes replacing evaporator core, reciever drier and evacuate and recharge.

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euro 287
Mercedes Technician 7 Years (retired to Hyundai)
2000 Dodge Durango
98 Mazda truck