Just got a new/old beater benz.
Second one of our fleet.
She's a great-engine-terrible-body girl and we brought her home last night.
She looks better in the dark.
Anyway, looking at the very clean engine today I noticed that the AC unit under the hood (left side of engine, near firewall, loads of wires running out of top, loads of tubes running to/from it, that's the AC controller right?) is leaking coolant (green, same as in radiator).
It's not a slow leak, it's really pretty fast. The unit has a crack in it and it leaks from the crack as well as a few of the hoses.
Getting to anything on this is a b*tch as there are so many things in the way.
The AC doesnt' work and we don't care, it's Denver and even in the summer we didn't use it on our other baby. That's what the sun roof is for.
There is a level attached (placed by the mechanic we bought the car from) that you lift to get heat in the cabin. Push it down to keep heat from coming in. Told you she's a bit of a beater.

The big questions:
Is the green stuff coolant?
Can we remove the unit without causing big problems.
Should we take this in right away to get it fixed or can we just keep adding coolant back as it leaks?

What would you do?

Thanks so much. Bought her for $1500. The engine starts right up without fail, the tranny is solid, the paint sucks but the interior-black-is almost perfect. Engine has 114K on it, not bad for 79 300SD.

Ginny in Denver
78 300SD MINT Bio Baby
78 300SD Bio Beater, new to us

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Ginny in Denver-ish
78 300SD, 265K (mine)

Your servo unit is shot. On a beater, look for "servo unit bypass", or something like that, in the search function of this site. Common problem on old servos.
Propper repair is not cheap, but bypass is, and seems appropriate for this car at this time.
Get the green coolant out, and the correct coolant in, after leak is bypassed/repaired.

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The Golden Rule

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

So if I take the two hoses nearest the engine (near the air filter) and connect them, it will bypass the servo and a.)give heat and/or b.) stop the leak?

Thanks!

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Ginny in Denver-ish
78 300SD, 265K (mine)

See what has been done in the past:

Posts #2 and #10 here:http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=163905&highlight=servo+bypass+leak

Lots here:http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/search.php?searchid=964354

__________________
The Golden Rule

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