Official AC Thread

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 26 Aug 2006, 10:16

Wow is all I can say. I've been adding R134A about once every 2-3 weeks in hopes of getting me through this summer. I suspect that I'll be tackling this next year, so thanks for the great pictures. In hindsight, does the steering wheel, airbags and entire dash REALLY have to come out? Do you think that there are any short cuts to this? I still don't understand the entire logic of taking everything loose and stripping the car down as far as everyone does to get to the evap. Your answers would be dearly appreciated.

ichrolle · Post by **ichrolle** » 26 Aug 2006, 14:13

adding R134a was my approach too until the compressor stopped working and I mean litteraly stopped due to too much oil.... I should have only added refrigerant! I guess those are the things you learn along the way.

Anyway, yes the pictures pretty much show what has to be done. Up until doing this job I was a die-hard volvo/saab fan but realizing how much volvo neglected protecting the evaporator I guess I am becoming more critical about volvos. A simple 30 bucks would have prevented all the stuff from getting into the evaporator in the first place. If I look at my Saab 9000 the evaporator is "protected" by a filter -standard- and if things should go wrong all you have to take out is a plastic cover and the false firewall.....
back to the question why you have to take out all the stuff to replace the evaporator, simple, to get to the clips and screws in the back of the evaporator and heater-core housing. If you take a look at this picture
http://people.umass.edu/gfeldman/volvo_ ... g.jpg.html you are looking at the back of the housing where 3 clamps are positioned (actually 4, that one is right behind the black plastic arm you see to the left) and some screws further to the right. All of the housing is positioned between firewall and windshield, which is not accessable from above as you can see here
http://people.umass.edu/gfeldman/volvo_ ... g.jpg.html
You could try to get the top section of while the housing is still in the car but you run the risk of bending your heater-core lines too much if you leave them attached to the housing. And if you take them off you might as well take out the housing for easier access.
The stearing wheel has to be removed because you can't take of the dashboard any other way. Access to the evap is only possible once the dashboard is removed because it is one big piece and you can't just take off the top or bottom.
Hope that helped. I was looking for an easy solution too but in the end it turned out to be an ok job. It took me less time to do the evaporator compared to replacing the clutch..... but that is another volvo story

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 26 Aug 2006, 15:31

Anyway to "retro-fit" a fake firewall in our Volvo's so it's easy to get to all of those components in the future from the firewall side? I was thinking something in the neighborhood of cutting through the firewall and then using a piece of sheet metal with sheetmetal screws to put a different firewall in. You could cut holes for the evap. hoses and heater core lines as well. Then if you have issues in the future, all you have to do is unsrew the fake firewall and everything is right there.

ckm1915 · Post by **ckm1915** » 31 Aug 2006, 08:12

I'm new to the forum but have read all posts for this topic and not sure if I'm having similar or overlapping issues or not. I took my 2000 S70 in to a reputable volvo repair shop and had my oil changed. That's it. However, when I picked it up my a/c was not cooling nearly as cold as when I took it in. As with most volvos, the a/c would freeze you before. Now there may be no connection to the oil change but seems coincidental. I am not getting any lights saying anything is wrong. The ECC seems to be working ok, fan is blowing ok - just not cooling properly. Cools slightly, just not cold like it was. And it seems to still be taking the humidity out. Do a/c systems just stop cooling or is it a gradual process? If it was a leak, would it be gradual or immediate (obviously depends on the size of the leak)? The whole thing just seems odd. Would the oil change have anything to do with it, at all? Could they have hit or loosened something or gotten oil on something that would affect this? Or is it just coincidental? Ideas as to where to begin? - I'm handy but obviously not a car expert... Thanks.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 31 Aug 2006, 08:40

They don't come close to any A/C parts when they change the oil...I'd say it's coincidental unless they had a real incompetent tech working on your car. Check the gas level and top it off if necessary....very easy to do.

ckm1915 · Post by **ckm1915** » 31 Aug 2006, 09:20

Thanks, I'll check it out...

Post by **850_olaf_nz** » 04 Dec 2006, 12:24

Hi all

I've read through this thread, the other fixes listed on AC Page and the ozbrick Keith Potter's aircon essay.

I need to locate the High Pressure Port - my local AC specialist needs access to this to give a fullvacuum out and rechange. I've found the low-side port (behind right front headlamp) - can someone help me locate this please?

thanks in advance

Richard

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 04 Dec 2006, 20:01

There is no high pressure port that I know of....evacuation is done through the low side.

angelglo · Post by **angelglo** » 31 Mar 2007, 15:17

ok, i have read through the post and threads regarding non op ac. my a/c is intermitent. one day in band camp, opps, sorry, wrong story, i mean when i was driving, i noticed kind of a weird a/c smell fell. almost felt humid inside of the car. 97 850 glt. i immediately thought of it needing an ac recharge. i had the ac recharged last year. before that, i took it to a shop and he said, if i remember correctly, the ac pump needed to be shimmed and the ac was full. i said go ahead and they did and it worked fine. i know they werent taking me for a ride because i know the owner and only charged me something like 100-150 bucks. anyway, the ac will blow cold air for a good portion of the day and then it will go out on me and blow hot air. i bought an ac refill and the gauge actually read 45-65 which i believe is on the high side. teh compressor, when i initaill started it turned on and off every 10 seconds. i let it run for about 15 min and then it would run for about 60 secs and turn off for 5 secs. it was still blowing cold according to my laser temp guage at about 39-44 degrees. do i need to take it back to the shop and have the compressor check out? or is it a collapsed line? where is the line and when does it collapse? i would take it in but it is in the middle of san francisco and i hate dricing in traffic.

if it is a collapsed line or a compressor problem, im assuming i need to take it in because the lines will need to be opened, correct?

thanks
angel

powder · Post by **powder** » 06 May 2007, 17:12

here is my story. Cracked line loose at condenser and let out all refrig. very fasy! (accident made me dizzy) any how I replaced o-ring and tightened port as tight as I could

went to A\C shop the guy vacumed system (for about 10 min) from low side with car off and recharged with car off? (1st question, is this normal?) A\C worked well after this for a few days, but now blow hot air. Guage reads good on low side with A\C on full blast, but I noticed the compressor doesn't kick on at all.

Any Ideas its hot

jason