W123 A/C warm at idle

[Flyin4now]

Ok, I've searched up and down on this forum to find an answer to this. I don't know; do these older MBs just not have what it takes to cool the cabin in my Texas heat? I have been having alot of problems keeping cool, especially when sitting at a stoplight for extended periods. Does the monovalve come into play with this sort of symptom? About two months ago, my mechanic added a can of freon. Oh, yeah, I guess I should say that this car has had a R-134a conversion. Is this the problem in itself? I know the car was designed for R-12. I have the availability to re-convert back to R-12, and have been wondering all along if this would be the best way to go. If I do, is a parallel flow condenser needed with R-12? I know, way too many questions in one post, but I'm tired of sweating at the stops!!

[JimmyL]

Greetings fellow Texan!
Listen, these cars barely cool while moving. At idle you can forget it even with R-12. R-134a is just a tad worse about it. Same with Freeze 12. They just don't idle well, and really don't cool all that well. Definitely a major weak point.
I've heard of some going the parallel flow condenser route, with limited and varying success. I'll let somebody who has actually done it speak about their experiences.
These are just uncomfortable cars to drive down here for 2-4 months out of the year. Survivable, just not that enjoyable. Good thing we've had a very cool year so far. Geez, it rained again today........

[Ara T.]

I dunno, I think these cars cool very well as long as everything's working. When my AC worked it used to get me shivering on a 100 degree summer day.