2008 XC70 3.2L - Persistent Air-conditioning Problem

[LotharBucheim67]

Hello everybody,

I would very much appreciate your help in trying to sort out a persistent problem with the air conditioning in my Volvo XC70. I live in a very hot and humid climate, so aircon is a must.

The vehicle is a 2008 XC70 with the 3.2 Litre petrol engine, with 280,000KM (174,000 Miles) on it.
The vehicle sits a lot…The reason for the long time-line to this story is that I am away on contracts which keep me away for two months then home for one month. While I am away the vehicle is garaged, so is well protected.

When I bought the vehicle at the end of 2020 the aircon worked beautifully. About a year later I noticed that the aircon seemed to be getting weaker, putting out less cool air. This coincided with a service, during which a local Volvo service department said they re-gassed the system.

It worked well for a few days (although to me it seemed as if the fan was weaker). Then it rapidly lost the ability to cool the car, and within three days was blowing ambient temperature air.

On my next leave I took the vehicle to another Volvo service centre, with whom I now have a very good relationship. I won’t bother with all the details, but basically at the same time as I had an engine coolant leak, the compressor unit had failed and was replaced (although this seemed to be co-incidental with the loss of aircon performance, rather than the cause of it). They also reported that the aircon gas was empty, and had been re-filled. Also they had checked the system for leaks.

Again I had perhaps a week or so of good air conditioning before the systems started getting weaker.

I then went away for about 3.5 months, and when I returned in November 2022, I took the vehicle back to the Volvo centre and it was discovered that there was a small hole in the air condenser.

The condenser was replaced. The gas re-filled. The aircon ran beautifully, and at full strength, both in terms of fan strength, and cooling efficiency.

For about two weeks !

Then it stopped working again.

This latest failure came just before I flew out to start my latest contract.

When I get home in a few weeks I want to sort this problem out once and for all. I am at a loss, as everything seems to have been checked and/or replaced.

I will be taking the vehicle to an auto electrician to see if he can come up with any ideas, but if anybody has suffered something similar or has any suggestions as to what the problem might be I would be very grateful to get your advice.

[rcannon]

Did you find the problem??
On mine, the cooling fan does not come on when a/c is on. It does come on when coolant temp increases as it should. Apparently the relay or sensor for the a/c is broken. Any idea were these would be located?

[skousend]

I have the same issue with my S80. No solution yet, but looking...

Did you find the problem??
On mine, the cooling fan does not come on when a/c is on. It does come on when coolant temp increases as it should. Apparently the relay or sensor for the a/c is broken. Any idea were these would be located?