Trying to get air conditioning working

bmac51 · Post by **bmac51** » 18 Apr 2015, 06:37

Ok so the compressor for my ac doesn't kick in at all. The button on the dash lights up when I turn it on, but it's just warm air. I tried jumping the connection by the firewall to see if it would come on so I could try filling it with refrigerant, but no luck. I also tried pressing the clutch with a stick to test if the gap was bad, but also nothing. Any help or ideas would be awesome.

Oh yeah, it's a 99 v70 xc.<br/>

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 18 Apr 2015, 06:48

When the light on the controller is lit the air conditioner is actually turned off. It doesn't really make any sense but that is how it is. Flip the A/C switch the other way and try your steps again.

...Lee

bmac51 · Post by **bmac51** » 18 Apr 2015, 11:01

The controller for the AC has 2 buttons, an on and an off. When you press the on button it turns green. Now I know that when you switch it to the defroster setting that automatically turns on the AC, and that on button will automatically turn green, so I'm fairly positive I have that correct.

BUT, I'll try it the other way just to be absolutely positive.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 18 Apr 2015, 15:35

My bad, I was thinking of the ECC on an 850, I rarely drive the 70s since they are reserved for the women folk in my house. Part of the rules are that the girls get the newer cars.

I'm going to need to dig a bit, the ECC looks the same on a '99 as it does on a '98 but it works differently. The ECU has a much bigger role in controlling the compressor. From a quick look there should be voltage on the Blue/Green wire at the pressostat from the controller. From there the ECU tells the compressor to turn on but there are three wires to the compressor. I will try to look up some procedures for you.

...Lee

bmac51 · Post by **bmac51** » 18 Apr 2015, 15:50

Thank you for the help. My next step is going to be testing the voltage of the connection on the compressor itself.

Bachman · Post by **Bachman** » 21 Apr 2015, 11:34

Turn the air on and add some Freon... if thew system is low on refrigerant the low pressure switch will not let the compressor turn on to prevent damage. Once there is enough refrigerant in the system the compressor will start to run. Then fill to appropriate pressure.

Post by **JDS60R** » 21 Apr 2015, 13:10

With the car off disconnect the connector at the ac clutch.
It is 1 wire connector. Give it Batt + (12V+).
If the clutch doesn't pull in then try the stick.
If the clutch pulls in with the stick push then you need to regap the clutch by removing a shim.

If it works fine then you may have a low freon (R134A) level. You can check with gauges. The AC clutch gap is the most common but all systems leak over time so low freon is a logical possibility.

Report back with what happened please.

mika · Post by **mika** » 22 Apr 2015, 08:06

Ozark Lee wrote:When the light on the controller is lit the air conditioner is actually turned off. It doesn't really make any sense but that is how it is. Flip the A/C switch the other way and try your steps again.

...Lee

This cant be true, is it Ozark? (for 850) If so, you learn something new everyday.
If I click switch to the right, light comes on, that means the AC is off? (trying to get my compressor on too)

Post by **erikv11** » 22 Apr 2015, 13:04

It's true, it's true ...

If you click switch to the right, the light goes *off* which means AC is on (i.e. set to Auto).
If you click switch to the left the light illuminates and AC is off.