Fridge not working (2006 MP, W639)

[Pete S]

Our fridge (RC1142) stopped working. It just says "clunk" occasionally and that's it. The snowflake on the control panel blinks. Symptom could be low voltage because of tired battery or bad connections but that has been checked out. So now it "might be" the control unit or the compressor (less likely) but nobody seems to know how to tell. I understand that the controller can be changed without too much bother, unit cost about £220. But if that doesn't fix it, then the whole unit has to come out. So...

1. Anybody with experience to share?
2. Anybody with a workshop recommendation?

We're in southern UK right now but have to go home to Norway soon. It would be nice to get it fixed before we go back

 

[Rob & Sandra]

There’s a known fault of temp sensor failure. May not be that problem on yours as the symptom is fridge goes to just either on or off. However, It’s a standard Dometic unit installed by Westfalia. Mercedes dealers generally have no clue about any of the habitation side of the vans.
Worth a call to Dometic UK (Blandford Forum) the Mercedes controller is fairy basic. It’s a simple 12v compressor. May have alternative modern temperature controller option. (Bypass the Merc controller ? )

You could also talk to independent van converter near you who may be able to help

Here’s there contact details. I spoke with Jens
Dometic UK Ltd.
Dometic House
The Brewery
Blandford St Mary
DT11 9LS
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 34 46 260 141
mail: [email protected]
Web: www.dometic.com

On our 2018 MP This is the fridge

 

[Pete S]

Thanks for the ideas!
We have come quite a way since I posted this thread. I agree, MB dealers in general have not the faintest idea what a Marco Polo looks like or contains and are hopeless at thinking outside their own box. But MB Exeter, when we finally got to the correct part of the concern, are an exception. Though they had no possibility to help in our time frame they passed us on to Car Body Shop Exeter, who found time to see us the same day we called and were both competent and efficient. The problem was unfortunately the compressor, which can't be replaced without taking the whole unit out of the van. Given that we thought it would be better to replace the entire 20 year old unit. The RC1142 is of course no longer available, so that means finding a fridge box that will go in the hole with appropriate fitting skills. Exeter Car Body promised they could and would do that in less than a day if we could find a fridge.

A useful item for others in our situation ... the place to get these fridge boxes is marine suppliers, because they are mostly used in small boats. There are three potential models, in all cases the "guts" can be mounted separately from the box, making it easier to fit in an existing hole. There are several such suppliers, the most helpful and competent was S G Home and Leisure, who went to the trouble of phoning Dometic to verify what I was beginning to suspect, that there was a very long lead time on the unit I was proposing to order.

Long story short, we've given up before we return to Norway (lots of small boat suppliers there!).

The models I have found that should fit are
* Vitrifrigo TL43R
* Dometic CB40W
* Isotherm BI 41
In my current order of preference. I'll post an update when I have one in and installed.

PS these are all self contained and will not talk to the MP central control unit. That will just think the fridge is off.

 

[Pete S]

Here's the end of the story which I'm sharing to help anybody else who experiences the death of a fridge (compressor) in an older model Marco Polo. The most normal fridge failures are the electronic control unit or the temperature sensor, and in these cases there are modern spare parts which are compatible and can be used as replacements if you have somebody competent to do that. If you are unlucky and the compressor has failed, then basically the unit is dead and must be replaced. That's what happened to us.

The old fridge was made by Dometic for Westfalia, and was very much adapted to the Westfalia conversion. The model is called RC1142. It had an inset in the bottom which allowed the pipes to fit around the wheel arch behind it, and it had control electronics which were adapted to the central console in the front of the van. The RC1142 is of course no longer available. This is what we did to replace it.

First, you have accept that any replacement is going to have to be mounted so that the top is aboout 10cm above the benchtop. That's because none of the possible replacements have the inset to make space for the wheel arch etc - they are all standard rectangular boxes. We located the three possibilities mentioned previously
- Dometic Coolmatic CB40W
- Vitrifrigo TL43(R)
- Isotherm BI41 Dual
None of these integrate with the MP control unit, they just take 12v in and have their own on/off/thermostat setup. I think any of them would have physically fitted, but we could only find an Isotherm BI41 readily available in Norway. The Dometic seemed almost to be going out of production. The Vitrifrigo seems to insist on a drain for condensation, which doesn't suit the Marco Polo; it also has a separate thermostat unit which would make installation trickier. So we have a new Isotherm BI41 Dual.
First you have to figure out how to remove the old RC1142. Not obviously it comes out forwards, not upwards. I found a brilliant set of instructions written by a Frenchman in 2013, https://marcopolo.superforum.fr/t5133-tuto-remplacement-frigo-sur-viano-marco-polo. Any decent web browser will translate it for you. I managed that on my own. After that I got our local caravan shop to fit the BI41. They used an IKEA kitchen side panel (FÖRBÄTTRA, dark grey) to build a box above the bench top. The original hinged top came off and the new BI41 isolated top fitted under it; it is no longer hinged, we simply lift the top off to get at the fridge.
All in all, I think it worked well.