Hey all,

I've got a few things I want to play with on my '85 300D. I'm wanting to do a throttle linkage adjustment, valve adjustment, A/C diagnostic, and possibly fiddle with the ALDA to optimize the power delivery. I 'have a guy' for all of my cars except this one. Hoping there's an individual in the Atlanta area who's really experienced with these cars and is willing to trade some time to help me/ teach me a few things in person. Willing to provide pizza/beer/sodas/hi-fives. I'm at a point with work where I don't have the time to research and fiddle without knowing what I'm doing. Plus, I like having friends with similar interests. I have most tools needed to tinker on the car save for specialty, Mercedes specific stuff.

I'm not on the forums often, so e-mail would be best for contacting me. gaahm89@gmail.com

Thanks!


Picture for posterity:

Did someone call my name?

Maybe so!

I like drinking free beer and watch others hurt themselves.

Now how did I know you'd be along?

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

I'm happy to provide beer and get my hands dirty. I'll try to avoid getting hurt.

If you've got some free time sometime in the next few weekends, please shoot me an e-mail. gaahm89@gmail.com

I emailed with no response... Subject was "Benzos"

__________________
http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

Got a chance to meet with Winmutt today at my place. Super nice guy and very helpful. Thanks Rolf for taking the time to meet with me.

Now that I know of a local with tons of knowledge, my job will be to try not to spend all of my money fiddling with this car!

We discovered that my AC compressor turns on and off, and there's fluid visible in the sight glass near the low pressure switch. The fan operates and adjusts to input changes properly, but the air coming from the vents with the AC cranked is about ambient temp. I was told when I bought the car earlier this year that the compressor is new, and the car has been converted to R134. Thoughts?

There was a beer AND a high five!

Good times hanging out, we went to Kennesaw afterwards and hiked around a bit and watched them fire the cannons. Good times.

__________________
http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

I have a W124, and am near Johnson Ferry Walmart. It'd be good for me to know more about my car.

We've talked before many years ago, but I lived itp then. Now I live 5 min from you between 120 and lower roswell.

You can email me through this forum. Private message is ok, but there are times when I'm not on here for months at a time. If you come in the next few days, you can help me reassemble my mono wiper and get a chance to see what's inside there in case you need to know it for your car.

I'm not an AC Expert and am not offering expert advice, only sharing what worked for me. I live in Tampa and run R-134 in my 85 300D. Lowest vent temp I've seen is 59 degrees with outside temps of about 94 and high humidity.

From what I learned on the board last year, the sight glass is of no value for R-134 and is not a good indicator of proper servicing.

First check the return line from the evaporator to the compressor. Easiest place to check it is on the hard line in front of the valve cover; the one that used to have the foam insulation on it. Should be cold and will likely have some condensation on it.

You can also drop the passenger side under dash panel and expose the expansion valve. Should be covered with some foam insulation. 2 Halves, carefully remove the half facing down and see if the valve is cold.

If nothing is cold and the system is properly serviced, you may have a temp control issue. The temp controller is above the glovebox. It works in harmony with the climate control.

Personally I'd put some gages on it and see what the pressures are. From my recollection, at 87 or 88 outside, mine reads about 35 psi on the low side and about 250 ish on the high side. I don't know what is optimum, but I serviced with 2 cans of R-134 and that's what I got. Once you determine that servicing is adequate, but temp is still ambient, then you'll need to troubleshoot the temp control.

Do not remove the temp sensor at the dashboard unless you are certain it is bad. It is a challenge to get it back in poperly. If you take out the glovebox, ensure that the foam covered spring hose remains in place as it is the air conduit for the dash temp sensor. You can actually check the sensor with an ohm meter; ohmic value will vary with temp and the value is compared to the value of the red blue dial at the climate control to set the air temperature. Full click at the blue side is supposed to take the sensor out of the circuit and go full cold.

Hope this helps for now.

Great info! Thanks for your response, I'll check on those things in the morning. Should these checks be done with a cold or warm engine?

I'd say run it with the ac clutch engaged for 5 minutes. That should be more than enough time to get some heat moving through the system.