Well, I relented and brought in the 745 to my usual mechanic after realizing that i was simply not going to find the time to look at the AC unit and probably would not be able to properly diagnose the problem anyway. While it was there, I figured to have them replace the steering column u-joint as the steering is very stiff when cold.

So, I return later today to find that they had isolated the AC issue to the control unit inside the car and, amazingly, had soldered the existing unit to the point of repair. Great! But, wait, what's with all those hours of labor?? Turns out, they spent four hours replacing the u-joint and went ahead and replaced the sway bar end links, too, since they were worn. Well, nearly $600 later and I'm on my way home. Should I feel bad that I didn't do the links and u-joint work myself? It's probably never a good idea to give a mechanic more than one thing to look at, as it seems to muddy the issue with regard to time spent on labor.


And, as a sidenote, this shop that usually does fine work botched up the under-dash removal and half of it is still hanging down on the driver's side. Damn! now i feel worse... :-(
--
1991 745 -- RIP: 88 764T; 79 262C