I have read in previous posts that when you first turn on the a/c on a 240D that the auxiliary fan comes on immediately. On my '82 240D it does come on but it takes probably about a minute or so. Is this a problem that needs to be taken care of.

BTW, I had my a/c retrofitted from r-12 freon to the r-134. This was after the compressor seized up. I had the compressor, drier, expansion valve replaced and everything flushed out. Being in Houston, you can't live with an a/c system so I had to quickly get this fixed because MB Tex doesn't feel too good against your legs when your wearing shorts and it is blistering outside with high humidity. The temperature difference from before and after is about 2 - 4 degrees warmer coming out of the vents. It's ok, but I wish it would be colder. If the temperature out of the vents was warmer after the conversion, I probably would have opted to try the new alternative refrigerants that are supposed to be colder than even the r-12. It appears that the a/c systems retrofits on the 123 body styles are marginal in performance.

Herb
'82 240D
114,000 miles

Herb - You're seeing normal behavior. The 123 cars use a temperature sensor on the liquid side of the a/c system to activate the auxiliary fan. I think it's set to about 60C.

When you first fire up the a/c, the liquid freon isn't nearly that warm - perhaps 35C on a nice, steamy Houston summer day. As the a/c removes heat from the cabin, the temperature of the freon on the liquid side of the system rises. When it reaches 60C - you get fan!

On my old 300D it took a couple of minutes on a hot day - maybe 3 or 4? On a cooler day - say 75F - the auxilliary fan never switched on.