On 8/31/07, John Robbins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Crap. Every time I get any kind of heat out of the vents it reeks. So > what is making the smelly mess? The melting foam? Sure smells like > burnt plastic now that I think about it.
Yes. I spent months off and on chasing red herrings before I figured it out. One way to tell is to run your finger over the slats in the side dash vents. They will have a black, powdery build-up. That's the foam. There is (more like "was") a sheet of it glued to either side of the recirculation flap, which closes off the blower box from outside air. You can't miss it once you have the blower out. I scraped off all of the rotten foam and much of the adhesive with a putty knife and heat gun, then reglued a piece of some sort of surplus compressible insulation material I had lying around---forget where it came from, but it was supposed to be heat- and oil- resistant, so should work OK. Without something to replace the foam you remove, the flap won't seal and the recirculation feature won't work very well (as well as closing off outside air when you press the dash button, it is also activated by the ACC brain to speed up heating or cooling when an extreme outside temperature is detected). > Looks like I'll need to do > this job then... At least I'll get some coil cleaner on the A/C as well :) Good idea. I scrubbed my evaporator off gently with Simple Green and rinsed it repeatedly with water until the drains below the car ran clean, which seemed to get rid of a lot of buildup. The smell is much better now. I'm hoping it will attenuate over time since the source of the foam is gone. My theory is that particles of the foam pass through the evaporator whenever the fan is on and are lodged in the heater core, then melt there when the heat first comes on (which is when I have noticed the strongest smell). But there's no way to clean the core without removing the dash. Alex '87 300D Turbo _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
