Sooner or later you will have to pull the dash. Either your vacuum pods evaporator need. replaced. I know, I can hear you say, "UUUUGGGGHHHHH!!". It's really not that bad a job.

My air conditioning was gradually leaking more and more air through the defroster vents (and here in Arizona, I want all that air hitting my face!) The recirculation door was not closing fully, letting hot outside air in while the air conditioning was on and doing its best to cool the inside. I elected therefore to bite the bullet and replace the pods. Bud Cloninger, owner of M.B. Motors here in Phoenix graciously allowed me to use one of the bays in his shop. Not only that, but I had use of his tools (one or two specialized tools are needed for this job) and the knowledge and experience of his mechanics who have done this very job a hundred times before. For this I owe him a debt that I can never repay. I rolled in at 6:30am and by about 2:00pm the job was done. Again, I can't say enough good about M.B. Motors, Bud and his wife Dee.

I should have taken more pictures and better notes but I didn't. The instructions in the factory service manul are pretty good, however. If my memory serves me right, you will need the following:

83-568	Removal and Installation of Vacuum Elements
68-100	Instrument Panel Removal
46-8240	Removal of Steering Wheel
68-105	Removal of Loudspeaker Covers
54-6015	Instrument Cluster Removal
68-150	Removal of Cover under Instrument Panel
68-405	Removal of Reveal Moldings

Special Tools

In my opinion, the beast source for these items is Samstag Sales.

You will need a special long Torx bit, Mercedes Part No 126 589 00 10 00, shown here to remove the airbag from the steering wheel.
Instrument Cluster Pull Hooks, PN 140 589 02 33 00 are needed to remove the instrument cluster.

Other Helpful Links

Here is a link to a discussion threadh on the MercedesShop forum whith a pretty good description of the job.

Here is a link to the accompanying photos.

My Photos

Here are a few photos taken by either Bud or myself: