I have a 86 300E w/ 187k miles...It has a production date of 10/85, so not only is it the first year for the 300e in the US, but it was one of the first build....I have owned the car for about 5 yrs and it has 116k miles on it at that time.....

Problem....The dreaded "CLIMATE CONTROL" .....

The Fan Motor and Squirrel Cage along w/ the Fan speed control where replaced just after I bought the car..(5 Yrs ago)..

The last A/C service was done 3 yrs ago, the system was down about 1 lb....No leaks at that time were noted...

NOW TO THE PRESENT:.......About a couple weeks ago I noticed that the A/C was not working, so I took it to the local 76 Station and they did a A/C service they stated that the system was down about 1lb, after the service was complete they noticed that the compressor would not come on unless the power was supplied directly to the clutch....They wanted 2 hrs at $80. ($160.) do do the trouble shooting......several hours later and them conversing w/ another shop they final ly threw their hands in the air and said they did not have the knowledge or the tools to diagnosis the problem, but the best they could guess it was the Push Buttom Unit in the dash and because they could not say for certain they did not charge me the $160......They suggested that I take the car to the dealer.....Well 1 hr of diagnosis at $119. later they stated that it was the Push Button Unit which new was $530 plus the labor to put it in another $200.....I declined and bought a rebuilt unit off the web.....I installed the rebuilt unit and there was no change.....I have ck'ed the Aux Pump and it draws about .65 amps...I have also taken the Mono Valve apart and cleaned it (is there suppose to be coolant in the piston and coil area ???) I didn't think so, so I have a new mono valve, but have not installed it yet.....I have the CD shop manuals for the 124 and I have been tring to follow their test..I have done the first 7 tests of the 21 test under 83-604 , but now I don't know how to do the other 14 because I don't have the test equip....Any suggestions...I have also done the first 2 test under 83-605, I started out w/ power to boths sides of the low pressure senors but then I lost it...It seens like I have a current draw and that the Push button unit goes into hibernation after a certain time frame...In lui of not having any voltage I have been cking the wiring for continunity and they all ck out fine.....OOOH on the first 7 tests I had open circuits on test 3, the evap temp senor and on test 5, the coolant temp senor...All the rest of the tests were good, well atleast the ones I could do..........So HELP.......

Hank