Postby Fudger49 on Sat Jan 24, 2009 6:41 pm
Well, it's that time of year in Dubai, it is raining.
Several things inevitably happen when it rains here...
1. Every new building constructed since last time it rained, will leak.
2. People who have moved here since last time it rained, will suddenly realise that there is no road drainage system to speak of, and have something new to moan about.
3. Despite the fact that it isn't really cold, many people will start sporting coats, jumpers, beanie's and hoodies - at least for a few days, after all it is a rare treat to be able to rug up!
My little winter indulgence was turning on the heater in the E500, which has been running nicely since coming back from the shop last week. Now the A/C works fine, all the knobs and switches do what they are supposed to, the temp control seems to regulate as necessary and the heater even worked at first, in fact it got pretty toasty in the cabin so I switched the fan off completely (leaving the temp on both sides at around 25C).... about 15 minutes later cruising in traffic I thought the car had caught fire! After the initial shock, I realised it was just steam, coming from the drivers side centre vent - not a lot mind you just looked like a nice hot cup of tea or coffee would with the steam kind of wafting out of the vent. I turned the fan back on and there isn't enough vapour to be visible with the fan on 1, but there was certainly a moist feeling to the air coming out. For the moment I have set the temp to the coldest setting which will hopefully keep the duo valve closed, there is no drop in coolant level yet so this is a minor leak at this point.
Now I really don't want to pull the dash apart to get at the core, but I have this feeling that somebody is going to respond to this saying just that....
>>> 1994 E500 Limited <<<
Fudger49
=======================================
Postby RunningTooHot on Sat Jan 24, 2009 7:55 pm
there is no drop in coolant level yet
What you are describing is NOT necessarily an absolute indicator of heater core leakage.
Prior to this "event" were you running the AC, or did you have the system on "defrost"? If so, then moisture condensation from the AC evaporator core could have (theoretically) dripped onto the very hot core, and due to the very limited airflow, it simply boiled it off as vapor. Since the ducts leading to the vents were also hot, they were not cool enough to condense the vapor onto the duct walls, hence the appearance of steam vapor.
Also, if it was a coolant leak, you would also have noticed a slightly "sweet" smell emanating from the coolant.
Now, if you DO happen to need a new core, I know of a certain abandoned 500E near you...
Current rolling stock:
New Toy: 1993 500E 163,000+
1992 500E 194,000+
1995 E300D 378,000+
1984 300D ~239,000+
1975 VW Scirocco with bored & stroked, slightly de-tuned Formula Super-Vee engine
=======================================
Postby Fudger49 on Sun Jan 25, 2009 4:47 am
You know that crossed my mind last night, when I had a look at an exploded diagram of the assembly, it looks like the condenser sits right next to the core.
The conditions you describe are pretty much correct, so I'm going with your theory because I like the outcome a lot more than mine.
Will fire up the heater again this evening and see what happens...
>>> 1994 E500 Limited <<<
Fudger49
Well, it's that time of year in Dubai, it is raining.
Several things inevitably happen when it rains here...
1. Every new building constructed since last time it rained, will leak.
2. People who have moved here since last time it rained, will suddenly realise that there is no road drainage system to speak of, and have something new to moan about.
3. Despite the fact that it isn't really cold, many people will start sporting coats, jumpers, beanie's and hoodies - at least for a few days, after all it is a rare treat to be able to rug up!
My little winter indulgence was turning on the heater in the E500, which has been running nicely since coming back from the shop last week. Now the A/C works fine, all the knobs and switches do what they are supposed to, the temp control seems to regulate as necessary and the heater even worked at first, in fact it got pretty toasty in the cabin so I switched the fan off completely (leaving the temp on both sides at around 25C).... about 15 minutes later cruising in traffic I thought the car had caught fire! After the initial shock, I realised it was just steam, coming from the drivers side centre vent - not a lot mind you just looked like a nice hot cup of tea or coffee would with the steam kind of wafting out of the vent. I turned the fan back on and there isn't enough vapour to be visible with the fan on 1, but there was certainly a moist feeling to the air coming out. For the moment I have set the temp to the coldest setting which will hopefully keep the duo valve closed, there is no drop in coolant level yet so this is a minor leak at this point.
Now I really don't want to pull the dash apart to get at the core, but I have this feeling that somebody is going to respond to this saying just that....
>>> 1994 E500 Limited <<<
Fudger49
=======================================
Postby RunningTooHot on Sat Jan 24, 2009 7:55 pm
there is no drop in coolant level yet
What you are describing is NOT necessarily an absolute indicator of heater core leakage.
Prior to this "event" were you running the AC, or did you have the system on "defrost"? If so, then moisture condensation from the AC evaporator core could have (theoretically) dripped onto the very hot core, and due to the very limited airflow, it simply boiled it off as vapor. Since the ducts leading to the vents were also hot, they were not cool enough to condense the vapor onto the duct walls, hence the appearance of steam vapor.
Also, if it was a coolant leak, you would also have noticed a slightly "sweet" smell emanating from the coolant.
Now, if you DO happen to need a new core, I know of a certain abandoned 500E near you...
Current rolling stock:
New Toy: 1993 500E 163,000+
1992 500E 194,000+
1995 E300D 378,000+
1984 300D ~239,000+
1975 VW Scirocco with bored & stroked, slightly de-tuned Formula Super-Vee engine
=======================================
Postby Fudger49 on Sun Jan 25, 2009 4:47 am
You know that crossed my mind last night, when I had a look at an exploded diagram of the assembly, it looks like the condenser sits right next to the core.
The conditions you describe are pretty much correct, so I'm going with your theory because I like the outcome a lot more than mine.
Will fire up the heater again this evening and see what happens...
>>> 1994 E500 Limited <<<
Fudger49
