Since many of use purchase aftermarket Denso AC compressors to fit our MB cars, I decided to post this document which illustrates how to distinguish a real Denso vs. a fake Denso compressor: I have supplied the link as well as a pdf in case the link goes away in the future.
How to recognise counterfeit DENSO compressors | DENSO.
FWIW I have replaced one, and now am about to replace two MB-Denso-made-in-Germany compressors due to bearing noise .... both compressors around 20 years old and both compressors had around 70K miles on them. I replace these with aftermarket-Deno-made-in-JP compressors. No idea if they are any more or less robust.
How to recognise counterfeit DENSO compressors | DENSO.
FWIW I have replaced one, and now am about to replace two MB-Denso-made-in-Germany compressors due to bearing noise .... both compressors around 20 years old and both compressors had around 70K miles on them. I replace these with aftermarket-Deno-made-in-JP compressors. No idea if they are any more or less robust.
