a/c cutoff mystery
 

Background: 1995 e320 165k miles

Yesterday coming back from the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, my a/c cutoff 300 miles into my trip home. It was raining, but not hard. I stopped the car to "reset" the a/c compressor, but no luck. Stopped at a grocery store

10 minutes later no luck. Came home and let the car sit for 30 minutes no luck.

This morning the compressor kicked in like nothing happened. This happened to me once before on a longer trip, but after shutting the car down and restarting I had no problem.

My only thinking is that after such a long drive, maybe the belt is slackening a bit and a slip occurs. Belt seems fine, no real play in it.

I guess i could switch out a klima, but other than that I can't figure it out

With the engine off, using your hand, see how hard it is to spin the internal pulley on the front of the compressor.

with two fingers on it...i can move it along....without difficulty

I had the same problem with my 300e. It was the compressor! I replaced it, and all was fine again.