[R129 SL] '91 500SL A/C problems

[Oldbenz1 at aol.com]

Thanks Greg- I'm in Michigan so unfortunately your guy is out of the  
question.  Nevertheless, I'm encouraged by your experience so I'll  keep looking 
into this until I'm satisfied that I'm not being gouged.   I'm sure there 
are some honest mechanics to be found.    
 
 
 
In a message dated 7/9/2011 7:32:03 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
gregorio at weststargroup.net writes:

Hi Rich;
I had my car converted to the R134 by a very good  mechainc here in 
Tarzana, CA, (which included replacing a leaky hose and some  other minor fixes) 
and the whole bill came to about $200-.  I think you  need a new mechanic! Not 
sure where you are located, but if you are near me,  I'll be happy to refer 
you to my guy.  He's a fantastic mechanic and very  reasonable.   
 
Cheers,
 
Greg Conte
1991 500SL
West Hills, CA
 
 
----- Original Message ----- 

From:  _Oldbenz1 at aol.com_ (mailto:Oldbenz1 at aol.com)  
To: _r129list at mbcoupes.com_ (mailto:r129list at mbcoupes.com)  
Sent: Saturday, July 09, 2011 4:13  PM
Subject: [R129 SL] '91 500SL A/C  problems


Recently the A/C in my '91 500SL began to blow warm air.  A local  M-B 
repair facility quoted me more than $2500 for the fix.  The major  problem is a 
leaking hose at the compressor but of course, they apparently  subscribe to 
the philosophy "never let a cash cow escape unmilked" so their  estimate 
included replacing a laundry list of hoses, seals, fittings, dryer,  etc., etc. 
ad infinitum.   Part of the "fix' included a conversion  from freon12 to 
R134.  I've seen kits offered to accomplish this  conversion for less than 
$50.00 and I would guess that the estimate  I  received for that part of the 
job was grossly inflated.  I suspect that  to replace the hose in question is 
one of those things that requires many  hours of labor, and I'd bet that 
suppliers of after-market parts sell the  same hose for a fraction of the M-B 
price.   Here's are my  questions:  if anyone out there has been involved in 
a similar problem,  can you give me tips about the difficulty of replacing 
the hose, and do you  have a source for the parts at humane prices?   I have 
a fair  amount of experience and may consider doing the job myself, although 
I do  not have the equipment to charge and test the system once the new 
parts  are installed so would have to have that done by a professional A/C  
shop.    Any suggestions would be appreciated.  
Rich Splaine 
 
____________________________________
The MB Coupes Website!
R129 SL Mailing List


The  MB Coupes Website!
R129 SL Mailing  List

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/r129list/attachments/20110709/1a8d3283/attachment.htm>