First I want to thank Sixto and gsxr and others for the excellent illustrated instructions they've posted over the years on W124 climate control vacuum pod replacement. While I have my dash off, I'm replacing all of the pods. Since so much has been written on this subject, all I'll say is that I did a final Mityvac test of the pods before doing the replacement.

As an "older" W124 (built July 1986), my car has two footwell pods for a total 7 pods. Of these 7 pods, 1 of the 2 footwell pods is good, the defroster pod "large lift" is good, and everything else is bad. Since the defroster pod "small lift" is bad, the whole pod is effectively bad, so I actually have 1 good pod in the whole system!

Remarkably, the climate control has seemed to work fairly well. I can only assume that some of the leaks are small enough that with a decent vacuum system and a good blower, the vents open part way and the blower forces them open a little bit more. I'm excited to see how it works with all new pods.

Jeremy

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

After replacing half the pods in my 85 300 SD, I noticed my trany shifted alot beter . I have ordered the rest of them. I just have to figure out where they are.

Mine seems to be smoother on the downshift now that the vacuum leaks are gone.

__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970