C43 AIr con problem

[tonyc43]

I am having a bit of trouble with the Air con on my 99 C43. I thought it may have been low on gas but after having it re-charged the fault remains. On initial start up i get nice cold air for about 2 minutes and after that the cooling becomes ineffective. I have noticed that on start up the left hand side fan behind the front grill is operational but after a short time it cuts out and cooling no longer takes place. What signals that fan to run and what is the likely fix please?
Thanks if you can help,
Tony

 

[tonyc43]

on further inspection i can see that both fans are running. They both start off very fast and then slowly decellerate until they stop. This all happens in about 1-2 mins.

 

[LAMPSLIGHTS]

what happens if you put your air con on the lowest setting.

 

[tonyc43]

I have tried it at all fan speed settings and low temp settings but still no joy. What was your train of thought?

 

[LAMPSLIGHTS]

my c43 had the same problem it was regassed stayed the same after a couple of days us again. set your temp to 12deg fan full on if after a couple of mins the ec light comes on and the system shuts down you have a big leak.common on w202 behind the fans is the condensor have a look if you have a big build up of debris in clusters on the condensor if you have this is more than likely your leak.My air con man is good a mobile unit covers South West Wales Swansea his no is 07962062868 .He knows his cars and common faults.I recently bought a c43 rad complete on ebay for less than a £100. A new condenser is about £140 from Euro car parts.good luck

 

[tonyc43]

i begrudgingly took it to my local MB dealer today for diagnosis, it turns out its the evaporater temp sensor which will get fitted on thursday when they get it. Its about £40 for the part so not too bad. I just hope it fixes it! All in all the service guy was really helpful so not the usual crap service you get from dealerships!.
I will post a reply on thursday's outcome.

 

[tonyc43]

got the evaporator temp sensor fitted today and now its like sitting in the fridge!! They only charged me £116 which was pretty good considering the part was £40 and they spent a good couple of hours on it. It makes a refreshing change to get such excellent service from a dealership!