It is a lengthy job, yes. Just make sure you're convinced of the diagnosis before plunging in.

 

Cliplight Manufacturing 946KIT Super Seal Pro A/C Leak Repair Kit

 

This is exactly what I would do! Since the thing is toast, it couldn't hurt. If I didn't care about the environment, I'd just keep on topping it off if the leak wasn't too bad.

 

One you introduce this crap into the system, no reputable shop on earth will touch your system. There are detection units that sense the presence of foreign chemicals and a shop doesn't want to contaminate their equipment and recovery of refrigerent with that junk.

The stuff may cure some leaks, for a while. An evaporator will leak somewhere else if it already has one leak. Fact is, the acidy of the water corrodes the aluminum and the heat/cold cycles stress the aluminum.

Evaporator replacement is usually a 10-year cycle. That's about the time that you should refresh the system, anyway.

The price seems low to me. It is easily a day and a half job to do it right and install all of the bolts/screws/pieces PROPERLY.

 

Oh, here in Florida we use our A/C on Christmas. No A/C no car, so I sympathize with Mr Rats dilemma, In his case what is the best course of action, more on that later.

You are correct many shops will refuse or charge extra if they find contaminated R134a in your system. However the term contamination refers to the purity of the R134a gas, and that means free of other gases like air, butane, propane, R22 and my fav R 409 the shops want to avoid contaminating their recovered R134a and the recycled R134a they then resell to their customers. I can see how a person might think that a sealer and or oil would qualify as a contaminate but it dose not. The recovery machines have a built in means to separate the gas from the oil and any other liquids.
Competent shops have this just for Cliplight marked cars.
Robinair 17622 A/c System Sealant Remover

Now lets help Mr.Rat, He has some tough decisions to make.
Keep in mind $2300 gets you a brand new Honda for one year, zero down $189 mo.
I have no Idea What Mr. Rats car is worth but whatever it is, a $2300 repair will add zero value to the car.
Would a $40 injection of Cliplight sealer save Mr. Rats evaporator? Who knows.
If the sealer did work would Mr. Rat have more time to prepare for a total rebuild of his AC? Would it work long enough for Mr. Rat to sell his car?
As I recall a W210 compressor, hose, condenser, hose, dryer, hose, expansion valve, evaporator, hose and all O-rings is less than $1500 and labor 16 hrs @ $60.00 comes to +- $2500 so Mr Rat needs to shop around for a better deal, than he has now for just the evaporator, if he intends to keep his car.
I'm thinking Mr. Rat will be shopping for his next ride.

 

Boy----you are really going to piss off some of the short story posters on the west coast with that frank reply!!

You better have the definition of assumption ready cause you are going to get three page reply on metallurgy.

 

Most leaks are

small.If the leak or leaks are too tiny to detect, Use the above named product.
If easily detected take a pass.Won't work.
A/C shops use it. Reputable shops will work on the system the ones that know of what they speakThey pull the charge into a separate containment tank.
They purge the system with nitrogen and evacuate.r/r dryer and good to go.
10 years for evap r/r is just silly. We have several MB's over 20 years old and no evap failures,2 at 12 years old W210 platforms no failures,friends and local members with several mb's each no failures.
Must be somethoing in the florida and tenn dealers water that makes them prone to failure.:thumbsup:
I just don't know

And some in Florida only look up the job in their wis and wish they had the ability to do it in the flesh
Really surprised Somebody from down there did n:thumbsupt suggest you have your CAN scanned on an authorized Mb star diagnostic

Although you are correct about the value. You are pushing the balance beam at 2300 bucks on a 420 orphan.
You could have picked up a low mile w124 wagon in top shape(with a working 19year old non leaking evaporator:thumbsup for a few hundred more than your cost of repair.
Lastly as the short story concludes is that dealer price or indie price?
Pays to shop around:thumbsup:

 

$60 an hour is not an unreasonable estimate, but it is much lower than what most shops charge down here. I agree, shop around, but go with someone who will do the job right.

 

You have to have an EPA disposal plan for that "contaminated" refrigerant mystery mix, too. The cost of disposal is not worth the extra charge to customers who wreck their systems.

There are several on this board who have a bias toward dealers, especially dealers who have been successful. Their comments are blinded and they don't think or write clearly.

The only way to fix it right is to fix it right.