i appreciate it, but this afternoon, after i got tired of guessing, i took it into my favorite shop and had it checked out, both the vacuum and the a/c.

nothing but bad news. they loaded it up with R12 and checked for leaks and it looks like my evaporator is shot. theyre going to load it up to 200 psi (normal pressure when the compressor is running) and check again to be sure. apparently the hight pressure makes it quite obvious.

so much for my nonsense 'theories'. although, we did find the vacuum leak that was keeping the flap from closing, but ill go into that more on my EGR thread.

thanks for all of your help and advice.

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1991 300 D 2.5 Turbo, 220k
also in the family:
1981 240 D 185k
1991 350 SD 185k
2006 S 500
2005 SLK 350