Having read numerous horror stories about problems with AC in the w140 (I have a 92 500sel), I am wondering if there is any preventative maintenance that can be done to avoid such problems.

My system seems to run fine now (gives 40F out of the center vents on 100F days at 55mph). The only "problem" I have seen is that twice over the summer it cycled off (after a full throttle blast in hot weather), and then failed to cycle on again. It fixed itself after turning the car off and on again, and like I said only occured twice (in about 10k miles worth of driving...)

I asked a friend here who is an accomplished AC tech, and he said that if it is working, don't mess with it. Any intrusion into what appears to be a properly sealed system will do more harm than good. Sounds reasonable.

So, the question is: Is there anything that I can do to insure longest life for the AC components?

TIA

-David