Hi from an A150 W169 in Nottingham

[Cosmin_M]

Hi All,

My name is Cosmin, I'm the owner of an A150 for almost 2 years now. Happy with the car, it gets me from A to B and it is sort of economic motoring. I have fixed a lot of the mechanical issues but there are some things that I will just need to live with like:
1. AC not working - I have done a regas and that fixes the issue, at least for a couple of days (most probably a leak).
2. The fan only works on the highest setting - I have bought from ebay what looked like an original blower motor resistor. Once that was installed the issue disappeared, for 2 weeks. If that resistor has a life expectancy of 2 weeks I can live with only 2 speeds for the fan, on or off.
3. no central armrest - purchased one from ebay but did not managed to install it.
4. there is a very small play in the steering wheel - I have checked with a mechanic and it is not a safety concern.
5. rust is starting to appear on the wheel arches.

Currently looking for a second car. I will most probably keep the A-Class as a second car mainly for backup/short runs/winter. One of the options is a w215 and I have found a lot of useful information on this forum so I thought it would be nice to just say Hi!

 

[ajlsl600]

If u dont need a bigger car and u have somewhere to keep it or the bits
Find another cheap running a class run that around,see which is best.use other as parts bank
I did this for 100 and parts from scrap one have kept me going and saved ££££,s the first bit saved me cost of buying car.I have racked n stacked the rest then cut up body shell and recycled.

 

[Blobcat]

Hello and welcome

 

[Srdl]

Hello Cosmin and welcome. A to CL - now that is a big jump!

 

[SmartAmg]

Welcome, Cosmin.

 

[V6Matty]

Welcome

 

[ZZZZ]

Hello and welcome, Cosmin.

A/C issue will be a condenser - not terribly well protected by the lower grille mesh - a new one will be required and not a cheap job - I had one done under dealer's warranty, when I bought my old A200 in 2015, RAC Gold Warranty paid for the job, £560 if I remember correctly (OEM parts, etc).
Fan only working on 5 is a known issue, I've no personal experience, but there's a video on Forrera's YouTube channel, showing exactly what to do to fix it.
Central armrest - don't have a full kit, but still got an upper rear central console in perfect condition:

 

[Cosmin_M]

Thank you all for the warm welcome!

@ajlsl600
Thank you for the idea! Sadly I don't have where to keep another car since I have a one car driveway.

@Srdl
Yes, it would be quite on the other end of the spectrum. The CL would be an addition to the A Class. This way I could protect the CL from the winter/salt and have something to fall on if the CL needs some work and should be off road for a while. I am borrowing a W215 when I am going in vacations and I felt in love with the car. I am well aware of the costs associated with this type of car. The other cars on the shortlist are A8 D3/D4 3.0/4.2 TDI, GS 450h (S190/L10), LS 430/460.

@GLK
A/C issue thank you for the details, I have scheduled a trip to my mechanic to look into this next week.
Fan working only on 5, I have applied the fix but that only lasted for 2 weeks. It might be due to excessive condensation. I will need to get the condensation under control before spending time and money to replace this part again.
That is indeed in perfect condition. I have purchased an almost full but quite used central armrest but if I will be looking to refresh it I will surely contact you!

Oh, another thing I will need is a spare key. I have created a duplicate that worked for a month, then the person that programmed the key ran out of keys, then the pandemic hit...

 

[V6Matty]

If you have a lot of condensation then check the boot for water ingress, also check that the drains are clear at the front, if they get blocked the water goes into the air intakes and a weird drain point here goes into the battery compartment in the driver foot well (don’t ask how I know )

 

[A.J.]

Hi and welcome to the forum

 

[ZZZZ]

Matt here is spot on (as always) about water ingress - front and rear.

Never experienced the front drains blocked myself* (kept checking them every month - the main one is under cabin filter), but had a spare wheel well trying to be a fish pond ... as I had a factory power sound option, there was a huge subwoofer in the spare wheel - not really meant to work under water ... glad I caught it in time, so no damage to electronics, etc. Rear air vents removed, cleaned, re-sealed - problem sorted.

* I have seen an extreme case, the last time I went to Forrera for a check-up - a chap somehow managed to drive his W169 to the garage, complaining of various issues; when the battery cover was open, the compartment was practically submerged - I could swear the water level was almost at the fuse board

 

[Cosmin_M]

If you have a lot of condensation then check the boot for water ingress, also check that the drains are clear at the front, if they get blocked the water goes into the air intakes and a weird drain point here goes into the battery compartment in the driver foot well (don’t ask how I know )

Thank you, I have checked the boot and that is looking fine but it looks like one of the lateral drains, next to the windshield as well as the main drain from the polen filter was clogged. Also the polen filter is soaking wet. I have order a new one and took the existing one to dry indoors.

At least the battery compartment is dry.

 

[Barnesautos]

Welcome to the forum .

I have had to replace the a/c condenser and that has fixed the leak.
Also I have recently sealed the rear vents behind the rear bumper to cure the water ingress.

 

[00slk]

Hello and welcome

 

[John Laidlaw]

Welcome