V70 XC Air Conditioning

bahowerton63 · Post by **bahowerton63** » 06 Aug 2010, 16:36

I have a 2000 Cross Country V70XC. The air conditioning works fine for about 15 minutes then cuts out. The fan is on but the air is no longer cool. What, if anything am I doing wrong?

nwhitney · Post by **nwhitney** » 06 Aug 2010, 16:56

Do any lights on the climate control flash? Any funny smells?

jasonaileo · Post by **jasonaileo** » 06 Aug 2010, 17:06

I just recharged my AC. My symptoms were different but ultimately no cold. My compressor clutch was cycling on and off every 5-10 seconds. A can of Sub-zero from a simple kit from any auto parts place will work on your 00 V70. Just follow the instructions. For $20-30 bucks its a cheap way to see if it'll fix your problem.

Post by **jblackburn** » 06 Aug 2010, 17:26

Run a quick search on 'compressor clutch gap', there are lots of recent threads talking about this.

bahowerton63 · Post by **bahowerton63** » 08 Aug 2010, 13:50

nwhitney wrote:Do any lights on the climate control flash? Any funny smells?

I have not detected any odors or flashing lights. The air is cold for about 15 minutes and then nothing but warm air. Is there a way to turn the fan off completely until I figure out the problem because we have been having a bit of a heat wave here in Oregon and I would prefer not to drive the car if i only get warm air from the fan?

Post by **JRL** » 08 Aug 2010, 14:54

Shut it off ASAP when it starts to get warm
It should restart cold again in about 5 minutes as the compressor clutch cools back down

volvov70pilot · Post by **volvov70pilot** » 09 Aug 2010, 09:44

I have the same issue.

AC works for 3-5 minutes, then blows hot air. I turn off the fan obviously; recharged the Freon at the LP recharge end, when I hooked up the pressure gauge that came with the refrigerant it showed the pressure in the line was in the red section and told me not to recharge it.

Being the cunning fiend that I am I unscrewed the pressure gauge with it connected and released all the pressure in the line.
Reattached the pressure gauge and refilled the system with new refrigerant. However... NO LUCK!

I read the thread about reshimming the AC clutch, but I have a theory that it could be the HP Pressure switch gone bad? does this seem likely, Autozone, O'reilly, Advance auto parts DO NOT stock this part. It's avialable online for 68 bucks but I'd rather not shell it out if I don't need to (i.e. if it's not what I need)...

So... tried the refrigerant, NO ERROR CODES associated with this btw... no smells... no odors... nothing. Just Hot Air....

What I learned about the HP switch its purpose is only for turning on the AUX fan incase the pressure / system gets too high to cool it down. If true, I'm not sure that this is what I'm looking for, and I sure as hell don't want a snotty nosed 18 year old meineke guy charging me $150 to tell me he cant fix it....

(Proudly replaced the brake pads/rotors on the front end this spring... saved me $300! -- Thanks to all that contribute this website is worth it's "weight" in gold.... if it weighed anything...?!)

Post by **tboothe33** » 10 Aug 2010, 12:58

I had the same problem on my 99 V70 XC. Tried the break clip fix on this forum and everything else. Nothing worked. Finally shelled out $299 for a new compressor on FCP Groton and my brother in law (saviour!) installed it last week. 104 at lunch time today - but my car was a happy 72 degrees inside! Woo hoo!

Retired MVS Contributor · Post by **Retired MVS Contributor** » 10 Aug 2010, 14:40

Did you read the pressure with the engine running, or not running?...I suspect it was not running and that's why you got a high reading telling you not to charge it...If that is what you did, you read the static pressure and that is wrong...You need to read the low side (suction) pressure with the engine running and the A/C turned on...Normal static pressure when the engine is not running will be high...It will be close to whatever the outside air temperature is...If the air temperature is 90 degrees, the static pressure will be a little over 100 PSI...

When you let that pressure out, you emptied the system...Now it needs to be recharged completely which will take at least 2 cans...Add refrigerant until the compressor stops cycling on and off, and keep adding until it reads 30 PSI, THEN STOP!!! even if there is still refigerant left in the can...To do this you open the can valve and add refrigerant until the cyling stops, then close the can valve and observe the pressure...If it is not at or near 30 PSI, open the can valve and add some more, then close the valve and check it again...Do this until you get the right pressure, THEN STOP...If you continue adding after it has reached 30 PSI you will have over charged and will not know it...Overcharging eventually results in compressor damage, leaky evaporators, slipping compressor clutch, etc...When it is over charged, the high side, depending on outside temperature, can be well over 300 PSI...Normal and correct high pressure will be 2.3 times ambient temperature, or 207 PSI at 90 degrees...

geokilla · Post by **geokilla** » 10 Aug 2010, 14:47

Actually, you can go over 30 PSI from what I read. It's just that the AC performs best at around 30 PSI. Mine was charged to 50 PSI by the "Volvo specialist". Well unless we checked it wrong, it's at 50 PSI.

And from what I heard, you can't overcharge if you're charging it from a can.