Volvo AC High Side Extension/Adapter or Trick? Topic is solved

[oragex]

old school thumbs up!

[Botbasher]

Well, the joy was short lived.... I'm really not a fan of NC weather.... but I digress.

I can confirm that you CAN read high side pressure, in kPa from within VIDA. Depending on the conditions, you should see about 12-1500 kPa of Volvo followed conventional R-134a wisdom.

Unfortunately after a week of rain, the sun came out full force today and I found out that I do truly have a leak. Only 1065 kPa while on.. so just enough to turn the compressor on but not enough to cool.

I think I figured out where it might be leaking... Or at least I hope it is..

The caps were off the ports when I got it. They were very very dirty. The LP port is directly below the power steering reservoir which has a new hose. Now in addition to that, my passenger side subframe bushings are gooey, so....

I am betting that the hose was cut at some point by the PS Pulley as there is spray every where on that side of the bay. That got on the bushings and liquidfied them. It also probably got into the LP port and would have a very similar effect on the Schrader Valve O-Rings. They would get eaten and recompress till they couldn't and you'd get small leaks. That's my story and I'm sticking to it for now!!

So I'm going to pick up a kit that has new valves and caps. Hopefully that cures it because when it works... It works really well, but we're headed into summer in NC and the GF isn't going to tolerate 4-60 AC but once!!

We'll see!!

K "Shraded" S

[vtl]

PAG oil used in A/C has UV dye in it. Get UV flashlight and check where it leaks exactly.

[Botbasher]

PAG oil used in A/C has UV dye in it. Get UV flashlight and check where it leaks exactly.

Vtl.... I'm so good at this... I can see UV!!!

It sounded really good for a second though, didn't it??

I grabbed the 30lb bottle of 134 , the scale and vac pump from work and figured I'd give it a look when I got home. Took me about 3 seconds to find the big yellow smears around the HP port. With no cap you could tell something had come out of there.

So, as I figured, I set about replacing the Schrader in the HP. $#@*&(##_# Damn thing won't come out. #_@@&&#"*#_#

So I go get my jewellers needle nose pliers. They're about 4" long and perfect for this. It finally breaks free and I find out why the normal tool couldn't get it... Volvo uses a XXXL Schrader. Figures.

At least I got caps with the kit I bought. Oh... Look... There... Under all the crud around the LP, the OE LP cap was buried. OMG there is a ton of gunk in there!!! I hear a lot of pressure washing in the future!!

OK, so I go to plan C and pull a vac on it. It pulls nicely and I let it sit for an hour. ZERO LOSS!!! So anything I lose is going out the valves.

Grab my scale... Dump 1Kg in it and let her rip!! Ahhhhhh Nipple hurting cold!!!

Now I'll have to find Volvo's version of a Schrader and do this all again as I'm sure those will still leak and those caps will only slow it so much.

On a side note... I was able to deform the core support enough to allow my HP adapter to sit on it... Barely. It's not pretty, but I'm not doing it daily...I hope!!

Cheers!!

K "Chilly Willy" S

[abscate]

Isn't spec charge on P80s more like 750g? Too much charge will hurt cooling performance , not help it. Hot climates use lower charge, cool climates more.

Your nipples should be frozen too much to hurt, but this thread can only go downhill after that,.

[vtl]

Isn't spec charge on P80s more like 750g? Too much charge will hurt cooling performance , not help it. Hot climates use lower charge, cool climates more.

My 02 V70 had 1.0 kg mentioned on the label under the hood, 05 XC70 - 0.7 kg. Owner's manual says "1 kg" for all model years, go figure.

[Botbasher]

Vtl nailed it... underhood label states 1.0kg.

You have some latitude on this number. 1.01kg and the unit doesn't explode. Ambient temps have a big effect on this as well as system size. The heat pump in my lab right now was charged to 2.5x and survived. It didn't work well, but there was no real damage to it. We recovered/vacuumed it, recharged it properly and off it went. None the worse for wear.

On the 750g note. The unit was making very cold air long before I got to 1kg. I could have left it there with no issues till possibly high summer temps. I wouldn't be surprised if both are accurate, but environmentally based. S & SW areas getting 750 and cooler climates getting 1000. Could explain the 1200-1500kPa readings that are "normal". That's a pretty broad spread for a stable system.

All I really know it's that it was nice and cool when I jumped into it a minute ago, with 85 outside. I can live with that!!

Cheers!!

K "cool" S