Well, turned out the compressor failed.

If you're used to the old style compressor, the new ones are a different paradigm.

There's no clutch plate on the new ones. The compressor turns all the time.
There is a signal sent to the compressor that causes the compressor to increase it's output. The compressor has a wobble plate that varies the displacement and the SDS system records a duty cycle for the compressor. Zero would be no displacement, and I saw up to 75% register when I was checking out the new installation.

All in all, the compressor looks smaller than the typical Denso compressor I'm used to on my W124 cars.

Modern technology, eh?

Jim

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14 E250 BlueTEC black. 45k miles
95 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 66k miles
94 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 152k miles
85 300TD 4 spd man, euro bumpers and lights, 15" Pentas dark blue 274k miles