Cross over topic

[georgem]

Guys,

A little help please.  To track down a short, I have had to remove the glove box and the clock. Seeing I had done this I figured I may as well fix the lights in the heater switches. Seeing I had gone this far, I figured I may as well fix the heating system which hadn`t worked since we built the car. I am sure we all understand the perils of project creep.

My main issue is the rod that somehow connects the push pull cable from the heater levers to the valve that controls the hot water. It is flopping about and has obviously become detatched - not the end on the valve of course which would be easy!.  Can anyone point me in the direction of how I get to the disconnected end? I cannot find any sort of diagram to show the connection point of the rod and the cable. How do I access this point. Any help would be greatly appreciated, other than one that starts with.............Its probably easier to pull the engine out to get at the.......

Cheers

PS Cross over because its elect/instrument but also heater-water

George
230SL
Brisbane

[Naj ✝︎]

Guys,

A little help please. 

.............Its probably easier to pull the engine out to get at the.......

Cheers

PS Cross over because its elect/instrument but also heater-water

George
230SL
Brisbane

After removing the engine.....
Remove the airscoop (at bottom of windscreen) and the fresh air flap and cabin air filter.
The rod connects to a ball on the left warm air flap which should now be visible..
Just hope its not broken, because they do if the heater valve is stuck and force has been used.

naj

[jeffc280sl]

As Naj said you need to access the rod by removing the cowl cover and so on.  First you need to remove the wiper arms.  Concerning the cowl cover there are obvious screws near the wiper arm and bottom of the chrome grill.  Not so obvious are the screws in the back of the cowl cover.  You need to remove the chrome grill and you will need a flash light to see them.  The screws do not need to be removed all the way as the rear of the cowl cover has slotted holes.  You will need to remove the washer fluid hose once its loose.    From there you will be able to see the main air vent valve.  The rubber sealing gasket around the valve maybe dried and cracked and you can replace it if needed.  There is a little tab on  top of the vent valve.  If you lift it up you can “unlock” the valve and rotate it to see underneath.  At this point I usually remove the driver’s side hinge bolts so you can unhook the cable and remove the vent valve.  Next will be the vent filter.  You can clean and flush the area and check out the drain holes under the cowl.  You can see the flapper valves which also have sealing gaskets that can be replaced.  If you look closely you will see the cables from the inside control valves and the linkage to the heater control valve.  The valve is visible if you remove the big grommet in the firewall.  Take your time and don’t drop anything down into the blower area.

If the flapper air valve is damaged it can be repaired with fiberglass, sanded down and refitted.

I understand the term project creep all to well.

[georgem]

Naj and Jeff,

Thats great - I hadnt even thought of going in that way. I`ll print the directions off and dive in.  Thanks

George

[jeffc280sl]

George,

Could not find a suitable diagram so I merged two diagrams and included a line to represent the linkage in question.

[georgem]

Jeff,

Its all becoming clear - its remarkable the diffeence a picture makes. Thanks

George

[jeffc280sl]

I know what you mean.  I'm the same way.

[georgem]

Jeff and Naj,

Good news and bad

The GOOD news is that both  your instructions were spot on, especially the diagram. The BAD news -  I found that both the flappers are broken. Both have one of their moulded pins broken so they don't hinge properly and one has the actuating lever that the cable attaches to snapped off. PLUS, the attachment point for the actuating arm of the water valve is broken off on the left one. 

So, I need two new flappers (Naj?) In some way I was a bit surprised they were made of bakelite, especially the left one which also operates the heater valve - destined to fail if the valve becomes a bit stiff - too much force.

One more question. The valve that switches air from up or down - clear lever top right is also stiff. I suspect that the after marked aircon unit is blocking that but I shall check it out. Does that lever operate a flapper style vent that directs air it to the screen and the footwell, or the screen and the airvents on the dash.

Cheers 
George

PS Any leads on the two flappers would be greatly appreciated.

[jeffc280sl]

George,

Sorry to hear the flappers are broken.  If you can't find replacements maybe they can be repaired with some strong epoxy.  Any way the clear lever controls plastic diverters inside the air distribution box.  They are colored brown in the attached photo.  This unit sits atop the blower motor.  The blower motor is located on top of of the trans tunnel up against the fire wall.  All of this stuff can come out and be cleaned etc.  It you have an A/C system that has to drop out of the way to get the heater blower.  Big job but doable.  I've done it and anyone with a leaky heater core has done it.  All of that stuff has to be removed to get to the core.  Are you the one that talked about project creep?  Its for real and always possible with our cars.

[georgem]

Jeff,

Thanks for another great dia. Yes, sadly I was the one who talked about project creep - this all started from trying to run down an electrical short circuit! 

BTW, would the heater flappers be used on any other model or just Pagodas?

George

[jeffc280sl]

Project creep seems unimportant when you look back at a series of completed tasks and think that your car will keep going for many years because of your care.

I don't know the answer to your question about interchangeability of the flappers.  I do know one of mine was split where the socket to the heater vave is mounted.  I got it very clean with acetone and roughed up the surface with sand paper and the used fiberglass mat and resin.  I then saned down some critical areas and painted them black.  The fibergall seems to have bonded very well.  You maybe able to build up the area where the hinge pin goes with fiberglass or expoxy and then drill it out to accept the pin.  The arm on the bottom may take to the same kind of repair.  If the arm is twice the size of the original it won't effect anything.

[Naj ✝︎]

Jeff,

Thanks for another great dia. Yes, sadly I was the one who talked about project creep - this all started from trying to run down an electrical short circuit! 

BTW, would the heater flappers be used on any other model or just Pagodas?

George

Heater flap part #s start with 113 so I doubt others will fit.

Creep might have to turn to crawl because I believe you have to get into the airbox to sort the seals on the up/down flaps. Good time to check out the heater matrix brackets too 

naj

[114015]

Hello George,

Naj is right, heater flaps' part numbers are 113 830 0142 (left) and 113 830 02 42 (right); currently those are 122 - 127 €uros, each.
These parts have only been used on our W113 chassis, no other MBs.

Try to repair them first - otherwise ...
(perhaps Dr. Benz, Walter Klatt or others who parted out a couple of 113s)

Good luck,

Achim