# 1998 Mercedes c230 a/c condenser

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-mercedes-c230-a-c-condenser/3889>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Created:** [August 30, 2007, 2:47pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-mercedes-c230-a-c-condenser/3889 "2007-08-30T14:47:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jewelzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a4c791/32.png) [@jewelzy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jewelzy)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 2:47pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-mercedes-c230-a-c-condenser/3889/1 "2007-08-30T14:47:13Z")

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I hear a rattling sound when my car idles with the A/C on. I’ve been told that it’s my a/c condenser that’s stiffening up, and that it would cost $1500 to fix. Does anyone have any experience with this? Should it cost that much?

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**Author:** ![Tester](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tester/32/15976_2.png) [@Tester](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Tester)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 2:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-mercedes-c230-a-c-condenser/3889/2 "2007-08-30T14:52:24Z")

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[b]Don’t you mean AC compressor?

The condenser has no moving parts. Just like a radiator.

Tester[/b]

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**Author:** ![jewelzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a4c791/32.png) [@jewelzy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jewelzy)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 2:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-mercedes-c230-a-c-condenser/3889/3 "2007-08-30T14:57:30Z")

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I’m pretty sure the mechanic said condenser. But it’s not a “fix” but more a replacement that would cost me $1500.

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**Author:** ![pulga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecb155/32.png) [@pulga](https://community.cartalk.com/u/pulga)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 11:43pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-mercedes-c230-a-c-condenser/3889/4 "2007-08-30T23:43:41Z")

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Condensors don’t stiffen up nor make noise, they condense high pressure hot gas into a high pressure warm liquid. Only the fan cooling the condensor could make noise if defective. If you have your information right from your mechanic, you need someone else to diagnose the noise.