2006 S40 Air conditioning

[Saint308]

Hey guys, I am a noob here and need some help. We have a 2006 S40 with 52,250 miles. The wife calls me today and says the air conditioner blows outside temp air for a while then switches to cold air conditioner air and back and forth. I am not very mechanically inclined but my father is. Any ideas short of spending a bunch of money at a repair shop? Thanks.

[billofdurham]

Welcome to Matthew's Volvo Site.

How long is it since you had the air conditioning system checked/recharged? The symptoms you describe would indicate that the Freon gas in the system is low. You may just need a recharge, which you can do yourself, but probably best left to your father. The kits can be bought at all good car parts stores.

Bill.

[Saint308]

I really don't have any idea how long it has been. I will look into that as I assume this is realtively low cost compared to the alternatives. Thanks.

[jimmy57]

the S40/V50 models suffer a high rate of clutch wear and will have intermittent operation like that when the gap between the drive and driven parts of clutch get too great.
If you search "clutch gap" on here there are many articles. It is not hard to on that car as the compressor is down low and the front is somewhat easy to access.
If it is clutch gap then you can run it until it does its no cooling thing and tap the front clutch plate of compressor with a stick and if it engages and cools then it is clutch gap. If that doesn't do it then the pressure-cycling switch screwed onto the larger diameter aluminum line in front passenger side firewall can also give intermittent compressor engagement with periods of normal cold air and periods of no cooling.

[Saint308]

Well, I had the freon checked and it was full. The A/C has worked fine ever since that one episode. I am just going to wait and see if it happens again. Thanks for your help.