The E500 is in Aiken SC (away from home) and the AC has stopped working. A recommended shop charged $300 to diagnosis the cause and says it needs a "climate control head" for another $400, but they can't finish the job for another week. The climate control works normally for heat but no AC. Does this sound like an accurate diagnosis?
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Climate Control Head?
- Thread starter ltpowers
- Start date
Diagnosis sounds very fishy to me. Swapping the pushbutton control unit (aka "climate control head") is a 15 minute job, why couldn't they finish it for another week? Can it wait until you get the car back home?
If climate control is working normally except for the AC compressor not engaging, it's far more likely something else is wrong besides the control unit... IMO anyway. And it shouldn't have taken then 2-3 hours to diagnose, either (assuming $300 diagnosis means 2-3 hours).
I spoke with the tech directly and he says he checked out everything and it is definitely the push button controls. He says he gets a signal going in to the control but nothing coming out. Turns out he is going to the mountains today and will be back for Monday. He said he would fit it in early in the week. It is tough to have the car out of my control when something goes bad, and it is expensive. Thanks for your help as always.
I live in Augusta Ga and the only person that I have found in the area that knows anything about 500e's is Matt Frater at Augusta MB. I am very picky about who I let work on my cars. Usually I find out very quickly that I know more about 500e's than the shop does. That is not the case with Matt, he has be around 500e's since they were new cars. Give him a shot if your mechanic does fix the issue. I am not associated with Augusta MB in any capacity
Update! I ended up in Aiken before the shop was able to fix the AC. I spoke with the tech, who was the owner, and I explained that I did a lot of work on the car and that I thought 2 hours labor to put the part in was crazy. I left the car for him to fix on Friday and he even gave me a ride to where I was staying. A couple of hours later I got a call that the car was ready. When I picked up the car he said that when he started to pull the control head out it started to work again, so he buttoned it up and did not replace the push buttons and he did not charge for his time. And the AC has worked since. He also cleared the code that had caused the dash engine light to come on. But, no good deed goes unpunished! The ABS light and SRS(?) light both lit up after I drove away. So on Saturday, when he was closed but working, he had me come back. The code was for the right rear solenoid in the ABS box. That would not clear so we took the lights out from behind the instrument cluster and called it a day.
Steve from Auto Tech in Aiken has a very busy shop and an excellent reputation in the area. He was fair with me and had a good attitude.
Steve from Auto Tech in Aiken has a very busy shop and an excellent reputation in the area. He was fair with me and had a good attitude.
You do know that most likely you have no ABS and no ASR function now, correct? Removing the bulbs was not a good thing, as you can't tell if the systems are working or not. Are you planning to have this diagnosed / repaired in the near future? Non-function safety items are not a good idea....
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