1996 Mercedes C280 AC Aux Fan Replacement
#1
09-03-2008, 02:00 PM
1996 Mercedes C280 AC Aux Fan Replacement
The passenger side front ac aux fan doesn't work on my 1996 Mercedes C280. I switched the two feed cables and the driver's side fan still came on and the passenger side still didn't, so it looks to be the fan itself and not something upstream. I found a fan online that I could buy, but when I looked closely at the front of the car, it seems that this model has both fans riveted to a metal frame.
I would appreciate any info on where to find instructions on how to take out the ac aux fan assembly (so I don't break something, because there's a lot of stuff in that area, including a bent/curved rigid tube in front of the fan assembly) and replace the passenger side fan.
I would appreciate any info on where to find instructions on how to take out the ac aux fan assembly (so I don't break something, because there's a lot of stuff in that area, including a bent/curved rigid tube in front of the fan assembly) and replace the passenger side fan.
#2
07-25-2011, 11:00 AM
1996 C280 Auxiliary Fan
So here we are several years later. I bought a cheap aux fan online. I don't know if it's as quiet as more expensive units, but in any case, it works.
I checked around for costs of installation, and it turns out that people want 3 hours labor time to do this. Looks like mechanics and shops all check the same books and then add a fudge factor, since they probably haven't done this repair before. Those costs appeared excessive to me, because a Mercedes specialist mechanic from another state told me that the it would take about an hour.
I found a local private mechanic. It seemed to me that he had never done this work before. He did the entire install in a little over an hour, and it took him that long because he was very careful not to break the plastic connectors, since he didn't have replacements at hand. If he hadn't had to worry about that, he probably could have done the work in 45 minutes max.
As a consequence of this experience, it strikes me that the books which give repair time guidance may not be accurate.
The mechanic discovered a way to remove the fan assembly relatively easily. He disconnected the vertical bracket holding the steering fluid cooling tube and moved the tube out of the way. He disconnected the horizontal bracket with the hood latch and moved it out of the way. He disconnected several bolts from the dual fan assembly, one in the center and several behind or near the fan blades (I didn't see the exact positions). Then he snapped the dual fan assembly slightly forward. There are two rubber rests, each about 8" long, that the assembly rests on at the top.
He lifted out the dual fan assembly, and removed many plastic connectors with plunger centers, being very careful not to break them. He used some kind of finishing tools that looked like nail pullers to extract the connectors and separate out their plunger centers. There were some metal parts attached to the fans with bolts that he removed and transferred to the new fan when he installed it in the assembly.
When he put the assembly back in, he had to temporarily remove the air intake vent just to the passenger side of the fan assembly in the car chassis, so he had enough room to clear two plastic plates that were easier to clear coming out than going back in. Removing the vent involved taking out a few plastic connectors with the plunger centers.
He put everything back, and during testing there were a couple things that needed fixing. The horizontal bracket with the hood latch has to be positioned with great precision, or else the hood will not latch. The way he did it was to loosen the four bolts holding on the bracket and lift it slightly, then latch the hood, then open the hood and tighten the bolts so that the position was retained. That worked.
The new fan made noise because the plastic grille just in front of it had some portion not far enough to clear the rotating blades. This was likely because of the grille had its top plastic connectors missing that affixed it to the chassis. I removed the grille and kept it in the car until I got to the store. I bought two connectors at a tractor supply house for about a dollar, and that fixed the problem.
Now both fans run just fine when the air conditioning is on. I may have a fan clutch problem on the main cooling fan, which could explain why the car runs somewhat hot even without air conditioning, but that's a separate topic. For now, the car no longer overheats when I use the air conditioning on a hot day, so that's progress.
I checked around for costs of installation, and it turns out that people want 3 hours labor time to do this. Looks like mechanics and shops all check the same books and then add a fudge factor, since they probably haven't done this repair before. Those costs appeared excessive to me, because a Mercedes specialist mechanic from another state told me that the it would take about an hour.
I found a local private mechanic. It seemed to me that he had never done this work before. He did the entire install in a little over an hour, and it took him that long because he was very careful not to break the plastic connectors, since he didn't have replacements at hand. If he hadn't had to worry about that, he probably could have done the work in 45 minutes max.
As a consequence of this experience, it strikes me that the books which give repair time guidance may not be accurate.
The mechanic discovered a way to remove the fan assembly relatively easily. He disconnected the vertical bracket holding the steering fluid cooling tube and moved the tube out of the way. He disconnected the horizontal bracket with the hood latch and moved it out of the way. He disconnected several bolts from the dual fan assembly, one in the center and several behind or near the fan blades (I didn't see the exact positions). Then he snapped the dual fan assembly slightly forward. There are two rubber rests, each about 8" long, that the assembly rests on at the top.
He lifted out the dual fan assembly, and removed many plastic connectors with plunger centers, being very careful not to break them. He used some kind of finishing tools that looked like nail pullers to extract the connectors and separate out their plunger centers. There were some metal parts attached to the fans with bolts that he removed and transferred to the new fan when he installed it in the assembly.
When he put the assembly back in, he had to temporarily remove the air intake vent just to the passenger side of the fan assembly in the car chassis, so he had enough room to clear two plastic plates that were easier to clear coming out than going back in. Removing the vent involved taking out a few plastic connectors with the plunger centers.
He put everything back, and during testing there were a couple things that needed fixing. The horizontal bracket with the hood latch has to be positioned with great precision, or else the hood will not latch. The way he did it was to loosen the four bolts holding on the bracket and lift it slightly, then latch the hood, then open the hood and tighten the bolts so that the position was retained. That worked.
The new fan made noise because the plastic grille just in front of it had some portion not far enough to clear the rotating blades. This was likely because of the grille had its top plastic connectors missing that affixed it to the chassis. I removed the grille and kept it in the car until I got to the store. I bought two connectors at a tractor supply house for about a dollar, and that fixed the problem.
Now both fans run just fine when the air conditioning is on. I may have a fan clutch problem on the main cooling fan, which could explain why the car runs somewhat hot even without air conditioning, but that's a separate topic. For now, the car no longer overheats when I use the air conditioning on a hot day, so that's progress.
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