Mercedes-Benz air conditioning!
it turns out that while I was installing my new head unit and dashcam I inadvertently pulled a couple of vacuum lines from my air conditioning – and then a third while I was investigating what went wrong!
Oops!
This had a couple of significant consequences. Firstly, the air conditioning that I spent a small fortune to have repaired was now blowing air from the centre vents like and old man with emphysema running a marathon. Secondly, it made the car run about as smooth as that same old mans joints. It was basically undriveable and would not go into reverse without stalling.
In order to fix these disconnected hoses I was hoping I could squeeze my hand through the radio opening and just reattach them. But my giant ape hands were too big. So I had to resort to pulling the side of the console off.
How hard could it possibly be? It’s actually quite a simple operation. Around 5 minutes work as it turns out:
- Remove the floor mats
- Remove the carpet
- Undo the 3 screws and 1 clip for the carpeted vent under the glovebox
- Undo the 1 screw in console side panel carpet and yank it out
Easy!
Once I did that I could easily access the 6 way vacuum valve and reattach the lines. I then reassembled everything to find I was still having the same damn problem!
This SHOULD work, except it doesn’t! So once again I stripped the side of the console. Everything looked fine so I started up the car and gave all the lines a little jiggle, then Bingo!
It turns out when I jiggle the last hose the AC works properly the as soon as I let it go, back to emphysemic old man. Now as I was assembling everything I did notice that there was a tiny piece of extension hose that was connected to that last line. Could it be that this extraneous piece of hose was added to correct a vacuum leak?
You’re damn right that’s what it’s for. After putting this piece back in, it all started working fine again. A quick spin around the block confirmed it was all OK. I can even hear the vacuum pod dealing with a solid thump when changing AC modes.
