hi sages- since 64 when i turned my first wrench on on an automobile(49 ford flathead) i have discovered that the top 3 fertile grounds for auto shysters and home run hitters are automatic transmissions , air conditioning and in the last 20years, electronics. of course this is partly due to their complexities and repair difficulties. the auto trans remains the most fertile ground but since most cars now have ac some may argue that ac has surpassed the automatics for fast ones. lucky for me i am used to 3 pedals on the floor and always try to have one car with it. so far have been able to hold off the female offensive to only have automatics. not as successfulwith ac though especially since i moved from nj to fla. apologies for my superfluous intro. here is my question. my 92 245 has factory ac. one week after i bought it in 11. the ac quit. dont really miss it but this summer has been very hot in fla. most days 95. from reading the ac stuff here on the board, i figure it leaked out from a fitting, pipe,compressor , evaporator,condenser or a combination. diagnosis and repair promises to be at least $1g probably one helluva lot more due to the above cited rep for ac clipsters. have heard that the volvo ac in this model is weak to begin with and unreliable and price exhorbitant to repair. do you folks who are sharper than me on ac agree with this assessment. cooler weather is about to start here so i am considering it for next summer. i know my mpg will go down the toilet with ac(currently 28 w/ the 5 spd od clutch popper trans.). thanks tons sages. oldduke