I feel great that I have working air conditioning on my '86 245. But I feel like a dork because I didn't check this sooner. I bought my car back in February when AC isn't important (although I won't say unused in February in the South), and it worked. Somewhere along the way the compressor quit cycling - I assumed the charge left it and it needed recharging. I have been chasing bigger problems and tolerating no A/C. I have not had reverse lights for a while, so I was checking the fuses and found the fuse for the reverse lights was blown. I was parked in front of my parts car, so I pulled a fuse and plugged it in. I did this while it was running, and heard a sudden "click" of the compressor clutch kicking in. Voila, cold air. In my defense, the fuse panel does not refer to this fuse (#8) as having anything to do with AC. But man, I do feel stupid for not checking fuses sooner. So let this be a warning - check your fuses before assuming a big repair is coming up.

Cheers,

Lance "Hopeless Brick Addict"