The quoted $650 sounds high to me. I suppose it depends on your geographical location -- 108F sounds like Phoenix, maybe. You can do much A/C work yourself but the system has to be evacuated and recharged by someone with the appropriate license and equipment. For that you must pay, unfortunately.

Depending on how long the system has been low on Freon, and how much someone has tried to run the system, the compressor may have been damaged -- the lubrication oil for the compressor is part of the Freon recharge process.

If the ACC electronics work correctly, the compressor and Freon are the main things. The accumulator/dryer may need to be changed but it is not expensive, at least not compared to the compressor. If the compressor does need to be changed, you can do that yourself. The system must be evacuated first by a licensed individual. It may be that the system is already so empty that you can just open it up -- perhaps someone with more knowledge will jump in here.

In the meantime, shop around for a better price on the evacuation/leak test/recharge.

Jeremy

__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
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