A/C Evaporator

[dhillman]

Hi friends. This time I have a question regarding the ACC evaporator. My car is a 350SD 1991 (126134). It was converted to R134 by the MB dealer around 1995. The ACC was doing a terrific job even with the R134. In april 2002 the evaporator needed replacement, as diagnosed by an A/C repair shop. They replace the evaporator with an aftermarket one, and they disconnected the heater (to make it more efficient cooling). In Puerto Rico you don't really need the heater, but the precise temperature controlled I was use to is no longer there. Also it is not cooling the way it was before, specially this time of the year in this tropical weather. My question is: I saw 2 evaporators for this model in the online catalogs. One is @ $178.00 and the other says German @ $305.00. Will that german evaporator do the job? Is there a place where I can get the original or at least one that behaves as the original evaporator? I read that the original is copper tubes with alluminum fins. If you have any idea of improving the cooling system please let me know. I also want to connect everything back to its original version, except for the R12 of course.

Thanks in advance.

Darrel

[y2kimmel]

I'm confused as to why you think the evaporator is bad. If the car isn't cooling like it used to - you need to have the cause diagnosed. It could be a leak somewhere else, a compressor going bad, or numerous other things - ALL of which will cost you less than replacing the evaporator.

The ACM evaporator is supposed to be the best aftermarket replacement. I've been researching this topic for 2 weeks now, after the evaporator in my 1995 E420 crapped out, and it seems to be the consesus of everyone that I've asked.

For cheap parts - try Fastlane (click at the top of the page) or www.importedcarparts.com - I've used them before and their parts are really the cheapest - fast shipping too.

Troy
1995 E420

[dhillman]

Thank you for the answer. I just wanted to see if there was any difference between the cheap and the german aftermarket evaporator. The reason is because the A/C was designed for R12 and now is converted to R134a. I thought that the ACM evaporator will make a difference in cooling when compared to the other replacement. I believe that the repair shop installed the cheap one in my car and that is why is not cooling the way is was before the repair.

[y2kimmel]

That R134a and R-12 have different cooling efficiencies. If you converted to R-134a, then your cooling efficiency will be lower than before, when you used R-12. The only way to get better cooling, I believe, is to install a complete R-134a system, including new compressor. It's probably a higher capacity system that makes up for the ozone-friendly refrigerant's poorer efficiency.

If your cooling woes started well after converting - I'd have some dye put into the system before assuming that the evaporator is bad. You don't want to replace an evaporator for $3000 only to find out that your problem lies somewhere else.

Regards,
Troy
1995 E420