My mechanic and I put it in this morning. My system failed after 248k because of the clutch, not the compressor. He said that the compressor was probably weak though as I described a falloff in performance over the past year or so.

When we pulled the top compressor hoses it was a lovely light green down in the compressor holes from past dyes. The new compressor from Ebay was 179.00 (very nice sellers out of a rebuilding company in Michigan). I went ahead and sprang for a new VOV (20.00) to put inline to try and improve cooling at lower speeds. The old orifice valve had only a few metal flakes in it, otherwise when we flushed the lines they were not nasty.

BTW, I called the company that sold me the compressor and they said between 7 and 8 ounces of PAG46 is the correct amount for that model, so basically the whole bottle.

Got a scare, in that after several hours of careful work, we were pushing the 134 in and the compressor kicked in, but it was not registering it was circulating on the gauges. My mechanic said "Oh boy, I'm not sure about the compressor." My heart sank. Just then he said, give it a little gas and when I revved up the engine a bit the freon "broke loose" and it all was good.

Driving home in the Memphis heat was a pleasure with an icy breeze in my face.