Too many problems

mkelly85 · Post by **mkelly85** » 26 Apr 2008, 16:41

Been looking around the internet and other forums and thought I'd give this a try. Nobody I've talked to has been able to solve these two problems with a 2001 S80 I bought recently.

1) The power steering is whining at low speeds, but fluid is spilling out the top of the reservoir no matter what level. The bottle is getting pressurized and air is released when the cap is removed.

2) AC isn't working, no power to the compressor, but there is power to the relay in the fusebox. Refrigerant not the problem, system is full. Recently replaced climate control ECM.

Any ideas before I throw more money at it?

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 26 Apr 2008, 17:08

Welcome to MVS....sorry for all of your troubles and lack of answers....
Not sure how many S80 guys are here (I know I'm not one of them) but we'll sure try to help.

Power steering...hard to say but they do sell new caps...I would invest in one for the tank...it shouldn't be spewing out at all, no matter what level...this will also keep air out of it unless you have a leak in the rack or one of the lines running to the rack.

A/C...no power to the compressor...then you'll need to (or have done) a back probe from the compressor to the fuse box to see where the power outage is. On my S70 as well as 850's there's a switch up near the firewall that you can jumper to get the compressor to come on...look for such a switch on yours too (follow the wiring from your compressor)...could be the switch is bad and not allowing current through. Typically this switch won't engage if the system is too low on gas...you sure yours is as full as you think....could you have a leak?

Hopefully, those with more experience with the S80 will chime in.
Good luck and keep us posted.
MIJ

mkelly85 · Post by **mkelly85** » 27 Apr 2008, 00:27

I thought it was a compressor switch, but the S80 doesn't have one. So far, the electrical problems I've had cost more in diagnostic fees than they are to fix the problem.

I'm leaning towards getting another reservoir with cap to see if that's the problem. That was the thought from another knowledgeable person on another forum. Hoping it's not the rack. When the problem first started, the steering was getting tight at low speeds, so I replaced the brake fluid with ATF and it handles better, but the noise and pressurization/spillage remain.