'01 V70 T5 Driver AC cold, passenger warm

Camydog · Post by **Camydog** » 09 Jul 2008, 19:49

Hi all, this is my first post as a registered user and I'd like to be a Swede owner that works on his own car. I have a problem that started Spring '07 and has gotten worse this year to where I can't cool the passenger side of the car at all.

I have dual climate control with knobs that represent the temp the AC/Heat will try to maintain. The floor, face and defrost positions work as advertised. The temp knobs do change the temp on the respective sides but the drivers side is the one that get conditioned air and the passenger side gets ambient temp air. The blower works well, all functions of the climate control seem to work as they did when new, except cooling the passenger side.

I had an AC tech. service the system. He removed .34 pounds and vacuum tested for 15 minutes with no noticable change in vacuum. He then added .80 lbs until the machine shut off and said the charge has stopped. We retried with no change.

The result is cool air on the drivers side and ambient air on the passenger side! No change to what I had before except more AC 'rush of air' noise when I start the car and turn the AC on.

My questions are: does this sound like a diverter door problem, a solonoid problem, both, or something completely different? As the driver it seems like diverter door problem, vacuum or motor related, or a charge problem. The car requires 2.17 pounds of refrigerant and would only accept .80. Why would the machine only be able to put in .80 when the system needs 2.17?

If anyone has ideas as to the cause of my problem I would appreciate your advice.

Thanks. Paul

patrickjcrum · Post by **patrickjcrum** » 10 Jul 2008, 06:12

Hi Paul,
I'm new here, and have only had my volvo for a couple of months, but this may be of help:
Does your car's A/C have an "auto" mode? Mine does and had a similar issue. in my case I would get an error code about every other time the car was started. The rec and AC lights would flash for about 20 seconds. On my car, (1995 850 Turbo) I was able to check the diagnostic reader thing under the hood for the actual error code. The error code I got was that the passenger side temperature sensor fan was siezed. It is located behind the grab handle above the door. I simple blew some contact cleaner in there, then swabbed it with a q-tip, then blew some compressed air in there. since then it's worked fine. The previous owner was a smoker, and I believe this gummed up the fan/sensor. Hopefully this is all the problem is with yours. Let me know if it workes!

Cheers,
Pat

1995 850T5R

Post by **BEJinFbk** » 10 Jul 2008, 14:38

I suspect you have a bad blend door motor.
The older, Gen 1 cars ('93-'00) have about 5 motor
controlled door flaps in the ducts of the ECC system.
I would guess that the P2 Volvos ('00-)follow that pattern.

You might try posting this in the year appropriate forum.
There was a big change in these cars from the
Gen 1 style to the P2's from '00-'01.
The folks in that forum should know more.

Stay Cool!

Camydog · Post by **Camydog** » 17 Jul 2008, 19:09

Hi all,

I have vacuumed the Temp sensor in the center of the dash and it is now clean. Mice could have been living there. The fan on my early build '01 turns on the minute the driver's door is opened. The key was in my hand.

I started the car, turned on the A/C and no change. I moved the temp controls on both sides and they work. The right side is not getting conditioned air. The left was cool, the right ambient temp air.

I then disconnected the battery after over 10 minutes of the ECC being off. I let it sit for over 10 minutes, turned the key to the II position and reconnected the battery. I then started the car and turned on the A/C. Checked as noted above. No change.

I believe I have now narrowed my problem down to a diverter door. I have read there are five on previous models, but since the '01 is the first of its generation I don't know how many it has or their function. If someone has the under-dash wiring diagram and possibly directions on how to access the diverter door motors that would be great.

I guess the next step is to find out what door controls conditioned air, get a part number and order the part. Then it will be doing the work; finding the little motor and replacing it. I assume all work under the dash has to be done with the battery disconnected due to the airbags.

If anyone has any hints, suggestions, cautions or detailed how-to notes, they would be greatly appreciated.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 17 Jul 2008, 19:36

I can send you a "how-to" for the dampener motors from VADIS in pdf format but you'll have to email me for it as it is too large to post here. My email is badger36-at-knology.net (replace the -at- with @).

Camydog · Post by **Camydog** » 01 Aug 2008, 04:47

Hi all,

My A/C is fixed. After it not taking a charge from the machine used a few weeks ago, I took it back to the technician, three of them put their heads together to figure out why it would not take a charge, and used the same machine to put in 2.2 pounds of freon. They don't know why it didn't charge the first time but the machine has since been recharged.

So, the fix for my car was freon. It vacuum tested good. The car had never had the AC worked on so it went 7 years on one charge. This would explain why I had intermittent problems with the diverter door last year. Initially, for the first few minutes using the AC, the pass. side would not work. I guess once it built pressure it allowed the pass. side to cool.

Anyone know of a fail safe, or driver cool, mode that keeps the driver cool when the refrigerant starts to get low? It would have to be built into the software so the diverter door would not provide the pass. side with conditioned air.

Anyway, thanks for the advice on this board. I posted on Edmunds and someone told me their dealer said if the freon was low it could cause this problem. Guess they were correct. Both sides of my car now work. Amazing.

Hope this helps others.