s60 ac problem

kerndaddy2001 · Post by **kerndaddy2001** » 25 Aug 2010, 21:30

Having a little trouble with the AC on a 2001 S60. Stop blowing cold air on a drive home. No sweat probably low on R134 so I put a can of R134 into it. IT started blowing cold air but after awhile it quit again. SO I thought I had a leak. Drained all the R134 out and put the system on a vacuum. IT held a 30 psi vacuum for over 30 minutes so no leak. Thought I may have got some air in the lines or overcharged it, also why I drained it and put it on a vacuum.
Put the exact 2.17 lbs back into the system and I still have my problem.
The AC runs for a few minutes and then cuts on and off.
I have noticed the high and low side of the gauges acting very funny. But the pressures are steady and the clutch is engaging the compressor. The high side will build up to 500 psi before it is cycled off, the low side will drop down to 25 psi before it kicks off.
I feel like I have a restriction in the line somewhere. A valve or switch that is stuck.
I took the accumulator drier out to see if it had failed and clogged the system but it was clean and no defects noted. FYI the aftermarket accumlator driers from autozone do not have the same size holes. Someone told me that they fail and clog things up on other cars.

The compressor and the pressure and temperature switches appear to be working as they are supposed to turning the system on and off. The compressor is building up pressure on the system. The switches are turning things off when it gets to high which is after a about a minute.

I have read that these cars have an expansion switch rather than an orifice....could that be the problem?
Where is this part located in the system?

And where do I go from here or what have I missed?

jda2000 · Post by **jda2000** » 26 Aug 2010, 06:59

you might need to shim the ac clutch, do search on that.

kerndaddy2001 · Post by **kerndaddy2001** » 26 Aug 2010, 14:37

Removed the Expansion valve this afternoon...not nearly as bad as I thought. You dont have to pull the dash you can access it through the firewall. Used some degreaser to clean it up and made the job very easy.
A friend told me about alldata.com. Very good technical pull and replace info for a yearly subscription.
The part will be in from Volvo tomorrow. the valve did look a bit questionable but I am not 100% on how it works.

If that part doesn solve the problem then I will attempt to shim the clutch on the AC compressor.