Well, I didn’t do it (the mechanic did), but I FINALLY got my A/C fixed! Got a referral from another local mechanic (alignment specialist) and our schedules finally collided. I was pretty nervous about it because you never know if it’s going to be a total rebuild or refurbishing... or a relatively quick/easy fix. I was anticipating leaving the car there for 3-4 days, but 2 hours later he called me back and it was fixed! Turns out the system had no refrigerant and a leaky inlet valve. Both are remedied and the system blows nice and cold!
98 degree heat with no A/C in a black/black car isn’t much fun! But no more...I’m cruising cool & comfy!
Wasn’t concerned with dissecting the selector issue and “why the ‘mix’ feature won’t work”, but that’s a whole other undertaking probably involving 6-8 hours of dash disassembly/reassembly to rectify. So not worth it to me. The “vent” and “floor” selectors work fine and that’s good enough for me.