HauptmannUK

Hold on.... isn't this an Indian club?! Why on Earth would Thai teenagers want to go in there?

A/C gas doesn't show up under UV - an oil-based UV fluorescent dye must be added into the system, e.g. Spectroline. If the leak is from the evaporator then the dye will show up in the condensate. Where a job involves a huge amount of labour it is unwise to attempt to save money by fitting 'copy parts'. 'Genuine Mercedes' evaporators are supplied by Behr and not overly expensive on the UK/EU aftermarket. Not sure what's available in Thailand - might need to buy from the dealer. Don't fit a secondhand or 'unbranded' item unless you want to repeat the job.

You're confusing THB and USD....

The photo is the gearbox end of th shifter cable. I suspect the bushing has failed. A cheap part. If you want, a complete replacement cable will be around ฿1000 from soMewhere like Lazada. More from the dealer. Bit fiddly to fit though..

SOP

Our family business in the UK specialises in repair and servicing of MB and BMW (although we do work on other brands too...) so I have some knowledge of your problem. First of all, if you are keeping this car then DO NOT use a sealer additive. A/C sealant reacts with water molecules at the site of a pinhole leak to form a 'plug'. They do not work effectively with O ring leaks or shaft seal leaks. More importantly they will react with any moisture in your system and block the expansion valve. And worse still, if you have gas extracted in the future the additive may damage the recovery machine!! First of all add some dye to the system and after a few days look for traces at the outlet of the evaporator condensate drain tube under the car. This will confirm a leak in the HVAC box (evap or evap connections). Getting to the evaporator is a big job and books at around 10-12 hours, depending on variant. Basically MB's mission is to make things overly complex and the W204 is no different.. Give me a Toyota or Honda any day of the week - the Japanese know how to build A/C ! MB evaporators suffer from pinholes due to the fact that the supplier (Behr) use dissimilar metals in their construction - which is a pretty stupid thing to do. Later production will have an anti-corrosion coating - don't know if yours will. The W204s also suffered with mold growth on the evaps and were fitted with an auto-drying system, which I'll describe below. When the dash is apart replace the evaporator (Behr are OE, VEMO are also good - do not fit a Chinese copy), replace O rings, expansion valve and receiver. I also suggest replacing heater matrix whilst you are in there. Ensure the drain tubes are clear (there are two on most variants). To combat corrosion and mould growth MB fitted an auto-drying feature which works as follows... After driving with the A/C on full AUTO for the entire trip and parking the car with doors closed then after about one hour the A/C controller will activate the blower on slow speed for 15-30 minutes to dry the evaporator. If during driving you switch the A/C out of AUTO, even for a moment, then this feature is deactivated so always leave the system in full auto for the entire trip. If you can get the job done for ฿20k then that's an incredible bargain!

My pension is c.฿140k a month linked to UK consumer price inflation index. Wife has her own money (which I see very little of!). Wife and I live comfortably on around ฿60k a month. I could live alone on ฿20k if necessary. Wife has a couple of condos she rents out in Pattaya, 15 mins walk to Wat Chai area... basic, but clean and tidy, with A/C and WiFi, ฿3500/month. Something like that leaves enough for food and little pleasures.. The thing that would concern me is health issues and associated costs..

At the moment we do 3/3/3/3 UK/TH using 90 day 'visiting family' visa. Thinking of going to 6/6 and I would go to Laos and get the one-year multiple entry visa which allows 90 day stays. If you time things right you'd need just one visit to Laos per year (in the middle of your three month stay) and no messing about with bank transfers, stacks of documents, poss. Thai immigration officers visiting house etc etc..

Obviously people have different lifestyles. We split our time between UK and Thailand - spending around 3 months alternately in each country. My wife owns properties in Pattaya and Udon so no rent to pay but when in Thailand we like to tour around a lot. So hotels, meals, petrol etc. 60k covers it. Wife has businesses in UK and Thailand so she uses her money to support family and buy ever more land... In UK we spend more....we also like to travel (to Spain, Italy etc) and that's not cheap. Also I keep a small collection of cars, including an Aston, and that's expensive. Air fares are rocketing too..... but sure, if you just stay in Thailand 50-60k a month for a couple gives a reasonable living standard.

We split our time between Thailand and UK. When in the UK we take a holiday somewhere like Spain or Italy. My wife has properties in Udon and Pattaya. Udon is a fine city but too remote. Pattaya makes a great base for traveling around Thailand and SEA in general. We live in the Pratamnak area so the airport bus station is close by. Less than 2 hours to the airport. Less than 3 hours to central Bangkok if you use the ARL. We have a car and in less than 15 minutes we can be out of town. Basically its just a very very convenient base. Lots of facilities within walking distance - we can have coffee and a croissant by Jomtien beach then go for a morning sauna, followed by a massage followed by lunch... Week before last we were by the sea in Chantaburi. Last few days we spent in Amphawa with a group of friends. Each less than 3 hours drive. Next week we're heading for a tour around CM, CR and on the way back we'll stop by friends in Saraburi. No need to visit Walking Street or Beach Road if you don't want to. Yes, there are some rather sad and 'broken down' guys around - but nowhere's perfect.

We split our time between UK and Thailand and my wife suddenly started losing quite a lot of hair (in both countries) - lot of black hairs on the floor. She eats very healthily and is very fit and full of energy. This happened shortly after her second Covid vaccine (AZ) and she thinks its a side-effect. No idea if true or not but it seems to have reduced a lot over the last six months and now seems normal. She started using (Thai) Sunsilk shampoo for 'damaged hair' and claims that also helps. I've noticed quite a lot of Thai women have thin hair.

People complain about noisy condos in Pattaya but I find our Pattaya condo much quieter than the house near Udon. Its located on a plot of land well outside the village and far from other houses - but still incredibly noisy. Dogs barking, cocks crowing, music blasting from massive speaker stacks at houses 1km away, and every kind of internal combustion engine known to man. And then of course there is the rubbish burning..... By contrast I find Pattaya a haven of tranquility...

What condo tax is this? My wife owns a condo we use part of the year and a couple she rents out to Thais. Also two houses in Udon. I've only ever known her pay the condo common fees - no government taxes....?

You should have Android Auto or Apple CarPlay on your phone. And use a proper USB data cable.

Its very irritating to continually see hebephilia confused with pedophilia. Pedophilia is an attraction to prepubescent children. Hebephilia is an attraction to early adolescent (post-puberty) individuals. In this particular case there is no pedophilia or rape involved. Its a case of the 14 year old 'B' suspecting that 13 year old 'A' was trying to steal her customer....

It is free (or trivial cost). Your wife would know about the '฿30 scheme' - I've never met a Thai that didn't. I don't think my wife has ever paid Social Security, we split our time 50/50 between UK and TH and she is registered in Udon - but when she needed some medical treatment in Pattaya it was done at the government hospital for a trivial amount (couple thousand THB inc. medication).

We left in March 2020 expecting to be away for only six weeks - so no special preparation apart from disconnecting the car battery. Returned in February 2022 and everything was in amazingly good shape. Wife washed all clothes and bedding. Fridge, TV sprung into life. Desktop computer fired up and updated itself. Toilets were dry but no bugs or bad smells. Connected car battery and it still had enough charge to spin the engine over!

I like the fishburger. Made will Pollock from the Bering Sea, according to the packet. They are popular - my local 7-11 will have 6-7 on the shelf in the morning and by late afternoon they'll all be gone. By contrast, the shrimpburger is pretty horrible and seem to be a slow seller.

I am not sure mental health services would help Western husbands/boyfriends. Some Thai women seem to have the ability to drive their Western partners to insanity. I've known two guys who committed suicide. The best thing is to walk away but so often the man is so invested (financially) in the relationship that they feel that death is the only way out.

A 6.45am gold robbery? I suspect the victim and perpetrator were known to each other. The gold is a side issue.

Rural Thai's seem to enjoy burning rubbish, even when collection is available. I've managed to stop my wife from doing it. She would choose a location such that the smoke drifted away from her house - and for good measure top the fire off with some plastic to generate acrid poisonous fumes.

Thanks for all the replies. I'll be stopping by Lifecare tomorrow. Petermik - I've just replied to your PM. Apologies for the delay...

Some years ago I knew a German guy who live there. He seemed to find it quite OK. I visited only once to deliver some food to him and it seemed fine inside as far as I was concerned. Certainly not squalid or dangerous. Sadly he was later found dead in his room. Suicide apparently....

I usually get an annual set of blood tests done by my GP in the UK, but missed it this year. Any recommendations for a clinic/lab that can do Cholesterol, PSA, TST, PRL, and a few others...? Thanks

Scabies. Try Permethrin 5% cream from the pharmacy.