1981 240D. Took it in for routine AC service. Shop said the manifold was cracked and would need to be fixed before they could service the AC. I don't know what they are talking about. Help!!!!

Thanks,

Bud

 

Ok I'm not looking at your car first-hand, but I think I have an idea of what is wrong. If you look at your A/C compressor, you will notice a "block" of aluminum that has two hoses coming out of it. This block is bolted to the compressor, and is the connection point where the Hi&Low pressure lines are fitted to the compressor. I think the mechanic may be referring to this part.
The part I'm speaking of can be damaged by overtightening the bolt, corrosion, using the wrong refrigerant, or allowing the part to hit the ground or bang against something, or simply age.It is a pressure connection point, and any damage can cause a leak.Of course if this part is cracked, you will need a new one. It will likely include two lines with hoses and fittings, which is likely to be somewhat expensive since it is for a Mercedes.
I actually"bent" one myself trying to overtighten it to stop a leak. It didn't crackhowever. But either way, I have found that if the thing leaks, overtightening or rigging it almost never worksand only makes it worse by damaging the parts. Usually it comes down to simply using NEW parts with new seals that fit properly to get ANY sort of reliability out of the system.
Most A/C mechanics I know simply will NOT use any questionable parts because they know it usually ends in failure andcustomer dissatisfaction. This is why they look over the entire system and quickly point-out anything they think needs replacing, because it only takes one leak to wreck the whole system again, and they are tired of dealing with that.

Blue