The cool air out of the center vents is normal, they arn't conected to the heater ducting (it's a wierd benz thing). It's very annoying especially when I was used to a volvo 240 (incredibly good heater!).

Sounds like you have low gas and a slow leak. The a/c will work ok but not great when driving but is terrible when at idle. It has probably now got so low that the a/c won't turn on at all.

Get it regased, dye added and the leak found. If the switch in the side of the reciever dryer is green then you'll need to get the modifed sensor instead (new version is red, it turns the aux fan on earlier)

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Alex.

MB Tech
Sydney, Australia
Volvo 122S
W201 190D 2.5 manual
W202 C240
W203 C32