190 heater core question
 

I was driving today and the car was running great until a pipe under my dash seemed to explode. My leg was drenched with hot coolant that was pouring out from under the dash.I pulled over and disasembled the bottom of the dash and saw a silver tube coming into the car to the heater core.I cant tell where the leak is from though.I am assumung its where the pipe connects to the heater core so i tried removing the pipe by taking the bolts off but it wont come off.Is this piece replacable or does it have seals that are easy to replace.Im probobally going to bypass it for now to get the car running but winters here in kenucky get really cold so im gonna need it working soon.Any help would be greatly appreciated.Thanks :(

There were a bunch of lawsuits a year ago against Mercedes, BMW and others over the design of the heater cores. There were a couple threads about it here on the forum, so if you do a search you'll find them. As for repair, it's a case of pulling the center console and dash. While you're in there, you might want to consider changing the vaccum actuators.

I had the exact same thing happen to a friends car.

I ended up having to replace the heater core, the pipes to the core and the gasket between the pipe and the core.

Have a look at the pipe leading to the core and see if it's damaged at the core or the pipe.

My friends car had corrosion on both pipe and core so i decided it was best to replace the lot to prevent it happening again.

update and question
 

I pulled the metal tube out on the driver side that goes into the heater core today and replaced the rubber gasket. It was still leaking on that side somewhere so I ended up bypassing the whole assembly from under the hood.
How hard is it to replace the core and does anyone know where I can find a cheap one? Also has anyone used one of those little 12 volt heaters for your cigarette lighters, and if so do they work at all?
I live in KY and winters get really cold here so I need to figure something out soon.Thanks

No cheap ones, check FastLane for the current price.

A lot of work to replace, but you will then have a properly working one.

May not need the core, just the pipes, but check.

Use only Xerex G-05 coolant or MB coolant -- the green stuff doesn't have enough anticorrosion protection for MB engines, and the coolant pipes, heater core, and radiators are the worst affected parts.

Peter

heater core lawsuits/ Info?
 

Anyinfor on where to get into the lawsuits against MBZ?

Heater Core end tanks suck ass and that is where they die. I just replaced mine a few weeks back. You need to remove the dash and center radio/HVAC controls and then you will see the heater box. Disconnect the box's vacuum and unbolt it. Remove and R&R the heater core. Then put all back together. Took 5.5 hours to do myself, and I also used this time to look around and replace any old cracked vacuum connectors. The Heater Core was a hair under $100 shipped. Not fun, but not a horrid job either.

As for the lawsuits, I believe MB one and had to do nothing. Which sucks because I would have liked them to cover the cost of replacement but Oh Well, it is an 18 year old car.... Burnt the crap out of my ankles trying to get accross 3 lanes of traffic and to a parking lot before the block cracked due to alomost getting to the red when it happened. Just glad my wife was not driving at the time. Funny how they had nothing in the to guide the hot coolant away from the drivers legs in case of the heater core popping!

There was no "class action" and the suit brought in CA was not a good "test" case since the cars that were allegedly defective were not very well cared for.

trauma at the mercedes shop
 

I went to a shop today and asked about how much it would cost to do the work and they said the manual quoted it as 17 hrs labor which sounds crazy to me..I'm hoping its a typo in his book but im probobally going to end up doing the work myself anyway.
Where did you find the core for so cheap and is it as much work as i hear? I have the mercedes book on cd but the pictures are so bad that its pretty much useless to me on this job. Does anyone know if there is some online resources showing the procedure.I did a search but didnt find anything.

Thanks

You must remove the console and part of the dash to get the heater core out (at least on the W124 chassis, W201 will be similar). Not all that difficult, but it takes quite some time.

I replaced the evaporator on my TE this summer, STILL have a stinking leak somewhere it's flat again....

You don't want to pay to have this done -- it's cheaper to do it yourself.

Big PITA, but who wants to pay someone's shop rate for 17 hours!

Peter

The local indy wanted $800 for labor alone with me buying the part. I did it myself and saved $800 and it only took me half a day, 5.5 hours. And I was not rushing just taking my time and looking around as well.

Give me a few details. I may be doing this very soon.

First you pull the whole dash out! It has two bolts under the speaker grills, two other bolts on the side of the dash(one on each side), then two more bolts in the center area, right by the drivers right knee, and the other by the passengers left knee. Take the cluster out, and take the center HVAC/Radio console out. There are two screws in the center vent to release the top of that console, two on the bottom under the ash tray as well. Takes about an hour to hour and a half for all that. Then you will see the heater box and the heater core pipes. You have to remove the heater box fully to access the heater core. When all apart check all vacuum lines for cracks and the rubber connectors for cracks. Replace any cracker rubber connectors or vacuum lines while the dash is apart. I think I dedicated a whole thread here to doing it!

Not a step by step sequence but you'll get an idea of what is involved if you look at these pictures of when I did it a couple years ago...

http://www.tokuhara.net/cars/oldcars/190e/heatercore/

This may also help - 87 190 Heater Core Replacement

Haasman