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A/C Compressor Will Not Kick On

672 views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  Patman1 
#1 ·
Let me start off by saying I recently bought a 1998 C280 and it has 104,000 miles on it. I have worked on other cars before, but I have never had a Benz until now.

I bought the car this past winter but I have not started driving it until now because it has some body work I had to do.
When I got in the car last week the AC would not work.
I cleaned the cabin air filter, which is something this site said is a common problem, but no change.
I also pulled the codes from the climate control digital readout and these are the codes that came up. 227, 232, 233, 416, 417, 419, 421, 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 456, 457, and 458. I checked their meaning and it seems like they are all over the board.

Is there something that could be causing this myriad of codes?

I have been trying to get the compressor to kick on with no luck. I even cleared the codes trying to get it to come on, also with no luck.
Looking at the back of the compressor, I see a green film on the back of it and the surrounding area. Is that the dye that is in the oil?

Thank you in advance for the help. I appreciate it.
 
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#2 ·
Sounds like the compressor is leaking, or one of the flexible lines going to it. I don't know if you have access to a vacuum pump, but I'd draw a good vac on the system and see if it holds, that's assuming it is out of freon now. If it has freon, I'd suspect the pressure switch.

Besides reading trouble codes, you can put the display in data mode and read things like the amount of pressure the system has.
 
#3 ·
I do not have a way to vac the system myself, but I have been wanting to by the equipment for a while anyway. Maybe I will just break down and get it.

Once I vac it out I will let you know what I find.

I am really hoping I don't have to get a new compressor. It is like $330 at Advanced.
 
#4 ·
I know this is an old thread by now, but I wanted to let you know what I finally found.

I was finally able to get my hands on a compressor and I vacuumed the system and it seemed to be holding a vac fairly well (no noticeable loss of vacuum). From this I assumed I had a slow leak somewhere. I then pressurized the system with just air in order to help me find the leak (I know you are not supposed to do this, but it was only for a few minutes and the compressor was not running). I took some lightly soapy water and squirted it on the top linkage on the driver side and I saw soap bubbles (since the system was pressurized the air leaking out of the linkage caused soap bubbles to form). I then replaced the O-ring on that linkage, vacuumed my system and charged it with 134-a. Once the system was under vacuum it took a partial charge which was enough for the compressor to engage and charge it the rest of the way. The air from the vents is nice and cold.

I am still curious as to what the green film is around the back of my compressor as well as to why there were so many codes associated with my system having a leak and being low on refrigerant. Maybe there was a leak in the past, or maybe it is just something completely unrelated. I am not sure. Either way, the A/C seems to be working fine now, but the real test will be when summer comes.
 
#6 ·
I also have this green stuff on my compressor, I couldn't tell you what it is. It appeared after I brought my car to the dealership to have the A/C recharged. They vacuumed the system, it held, so they filled it with r134a, that was 2 years ago, I didn't lose any refrigerant, last summer A/C was still ice-cold, and the pressure readout from the CCU was good, it would climb up to 17 bars, switch on the electric fans, and steadily fall back down to 13 bar. Sometimes when I pop my hood in the winter, the A/C compressor is still turning (it's a variable displacement compressor, so it should be running most of the time).

Maybe the green stuff got there while they were leak testing, they found some problematic o-ring, replaced it, and recharged the system, then never cleaned the old stuff off. BTW, autohausaz stocks the compressor at the cheapest price I've ever seen.

I was told by the dealership the dye they used is invisible unless shined with UV light, so perhaps this green stuff is unrelated.
 
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