A/C Intermittent 2000 XC

[Ken from RI]

Looking for some insight to an A/C issue I’m having with my 00 XC. I’ll turn the A/C on and it’ll work a bit then it stops blowing cold air. If I shut the A/C off, wait a few minutes then turn it back on it will work for a bit and then stop blowing cold air. It does this in the AUTO and regular A/C positions. The A/C is moving air; it just stops blowing cold air. Thanks for any help offered.

[Bluegrass-XC]

DANG ! I could've written this post!!! :eek:

I'm having the EXACT same issue! My former indie mechanic suggested that an unknown (to him) sensor (engine coolant temp?) may be sending false data to the A/C system such that it "thinks" the engine is overheating - so it shuts down the A/C (i.e. - stops blowing cold air). Sometimes just turning the A/C off and waiting a few minutes doesn't work for me - the only way to get it working again is to stop and shut down the whole car and restart it. And that is hit or miss as well.

Only reason he's my "former" mechanic is that I relocated and I'm 350 miles from him. Found a new guy that works on Volvo's - ONLY. [thumbup] Hopefully I'll have an answer to this issue in a week or so. I'll let you know what happens.

Haven't been on here for a while - feels good to be back! (no - I have NOT been in jail !! :D ).

[JRL]

The comperssor clutch gap is weakening, when that happens it shuts off.
Let it cool for a few minutes and it works for a while
You need to shim the compressor clutch
Go to www.matthewsvolvosite.com and search the database for fixing this

[Bluegrass-XC]

Don't readily have a machine shop available to fabricate the clutch plate puller, so I guess I'm at the mercy of my mechanic. I'll forward the instructions found on Matt's site and hope the mechanic has the proper tools to fix this. Thanks for the link ! [thumbup]

[JRL]

Use bread (loaf) plastic clips, you can do this yourself with a long screwdriver
You need 3 of them
Look for the "ghetto" fix on Matthews

[Bluegrass-XC]

JRL - I read that. (Loved the name !! :D ) But - I'm not sure I want to "jerry-rig" in this manner. Besides - what's to keep the plastic bread clips from melting - and potentially recreating the original problem? Also - it gets a little toasty here, so I think I'll discuss my options with my new mechanic ... which includes giving him the "shim" instructions (not the bread clips :eek: ) that I found on MVS. Again - thanks for the link. I think I stumbled upon that site some time ago, but I've been out of the loop as far as the V70 is concerned and I'm just now making up for lost time.

[JRL]

They don't melt, trust me.
If that fixes it, then you know you will be needing a new compressor within a year or so but it will at least get you through the summer.
It's not hard, also trust me on this.

I would not go through removing the compressor, if you do you may as well buy a reman or a (guaranteed for life) used one from Erie

[Bluegrass-XC]

I dunno - the instructions (pdf file - shim removal method) that I found on MVS sounded like a lot more than I wanted to go through. I'll do a little more research on it .... [thumbup]

[KlubMarcus]

JRL - I read that. (Loved the name !! :D ) But - I'm not sure I want to "jerry-rig" in this manner. Besides - what's to keep the plastic bread clips from melting - and potentially recreating the original problem? Also - it gets a little toasty here, so I think I'll discuss my options with my new mechanic ... which includes giving him the "shim" instructions (not the bread clips :eek: ) that I found on MVS. Again - thanks for the link. I think I stumbled upon that site some time ago, but I've been out of the loop as far as the V70 is concerned and I'm just now making up for lost time. I agree that shimming properly is the best solution. Plastic bread clips and and super glue will work but you run the risk of them coming off or wearing off due to hard driving conditions. It looks like there are 3 factory shims inside the clutch too. So there's plenty of room for adjustment before you have to replace the A/C clutch.