Rear AC roof leak

I have the standard-issue roof leak from my rear AC. It's a 2013 144 with the low roof.

Took the van to the dealer today for the airbag recalls and a service. The service writer asked me if my AC leaked. Apparently, Mercedes has a very quiet extended warranty on that rear AC gasket. It's getting fixed as we speak at no charge.

My van was first sold in May, 2013. So it's over 5 years old. And I've got 103k miles on it. All of the standard warranties have expired.

I confirmed with the service writer that it will get the same foam gasket as was there originally. He seemed to think there was some tweak to the gasket, but that it is still a foam that squishes to fill the space. So I'm not expecting a long-term fix.

For me, this is great news, as I am just starting my busiest time at work (I do taxes for a living), so I don't have time to deal with this right now. Last winter, it had a bit of a dribble - nothing huge, but enough to let me know the leak was starting. Then last week, we had a series of rain storms through. For a bit, I thought I was driving a convertible with the top down for all the water that was coming in. It was so bad, I gave my son an umbrella to hold while inside the car so he could stay dry.

I still plan on doing something better for that seal. But hopefully, this will buy me some time so I don't have to deal with it for now.

If you've got a Sprinter that is leaking and wasn't covered by the class-action suit in California, it might be worth checking with a Sprinter dealer to see if you qualify for this quiet warranty.



PS - The service writer had a broken Sprinter badge in his office. The S was missing from it. He stuck it on his printer.

ptheland said:

I have the standard-issue roof leak from my rear AC. It's a 2013 144 with the low roof.

Took the van to the dealer today for the airbag recalls and a service. The service writer asked me if my AC leaked. Apparently, Mercedes has a very quiet extended warranty on that rear AC gasket. It's getting fixed as we speak at no charge.

My van was first sold in May, 2013. So it's over 5 years old. And I've got 103k miles on it. All of the standard warranties have expired.

I confirmed with the service writer that it will get the same foam gasket as was there originally. He seemed to think there was some tweak to the gasket, but that it is still a foam that squishes to fill the space. So I'm not expecting a long-term fix.

For me, this is great news, as I am just starting my busiest time at work (I do taxes for a living), so I don't have time to deal with this right now. Last winter, it had a bit of a dribble - nothing huge, but enough to let me know the leak was starting. Then last week, we had a series of rain storms through. For a bit, I thought I was driving a convertible with the top down for all the water that was coming in. It was so bad, I gave my son an umbrella to hold while inside the car so he could stay dry.

I still plan on doing something better for that seal. But hopefully, this will buy me some time so I don't have to deal with it for now.

If you've got a Sprinter that is leaking and wasn't covered by the class-action suit in California, it might be worth checking with a Sprinter dealer to see if you qualify for this quiet warranty.



PS - The service writer had a broken Sprinter badge in his office. The S was missing from it. He stuck it on his printer.

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Glad they got you taken care of. The gasket, at least in my experience, is usually not the issue. It's the installation of the gasket at the factory which causes the gasket to pinch at one or more corners. Mercedes makes it a point to mention several times in the repair instructions to not stretch the gasket around the corners, It's only been about 4 years since the first batch of a/c roof leak repairs that I did but so far I have yet to have any of them come back with issues. I will also say replacing the gasket is much like a good paint job, it's all in the prep work.