1997 850 Wagon T5, automatic. Just purchased the 850 a couple of days ago to replace the ailing 84 240. Driving home tonight, some of the warning lights including the recir and A/C lights began flashing and the warning lights not flashing were dimly light. Car seems to be running fine. This lasted for a couple of minutes even after turning the car off and starting it back up. The lights turned off with the car but when the car was started again, the samething happened. Because the car was running fine we decided to drive home. After a couple of minutes, the lights went out and driver side A/C basically stop working. Slight air but no A/C. Passenger side still worked fine. A/C driver and passenger side was working fine before the lights went crazy. Any ideas on what could cause this?

The head gasket had just been replaced a few days ago by the Volvo mechanic. Could this be the cause?

Thanks for the help.
Don and Sharon

 

My Bet is the alternator

 

If you can, have the car scanned for error codes. I assume the CEL is one of the ones flashing. Last I recall, it is not good to drive far on a flashing CEL.

 

For the A/C and recirc lights flashing, It could be some thing faulty with the servos which control the mix of air. Try setting the Driver and Passenger temperatures to same level and then drive the car. There is no harm driving to car with those faults because they are not going to damage anything further.
For the other lights DIMMED ON on the dash, Check for all the ground connections under the hood. There is a braided wore grounding the engine to body on the passenger side back of the engine and there is a grounding cabel somewhere around the battery fromthe negative pole. I would remove and clean the contact areas with some sandpaper before reconnecting them. {I have seen few cases where the contacts look very solid (apperently) but were electrically bad}. Since you mentioned the head gasket job done recently, it is possible that mechanic forgot to connect that grounding brid or is not clean contact- atleast thats the relation I see.... :P

 

Do a search for "flashin A/C and Recirc lights. You should find a lot of info. I'm betting part of the problem is the AC Electronic Climate Control (ECC) is faulty. This is the dash control unit. Do the lights only flash when the AC is on?

 

My guess that lights will blink for few seconds everytime you start the car and this is a indication of fault code stored in the climate control computer.

 

Thanks for all the information and help.

We do not have a code scanner and short on time. So off to the Volvo mechanic. He started and ran the car and has not had the warning light problems as mentioned and the air worked fine. (I hate when this happens.) He states that as long as the AC and Recir lights go out and do not stay on he would not be concerned about them. The mechanics help is on vacation this week and he is going to keep the car and look into this more.

BestHarry and Psaboic: The AC and Recir lights would blink at start-up but would stop shortly after starting. If the unit was turned off no lights. This was occurring before we had the incident with all of the warning lights going crazy.

Psaboic: Would the AC Electronic Climate Control (ECC) being faulty cause all the warning lights to go crazy as mentioned in my first post?

 

read up:

To make fault-tracing easier, there is a diagnostic system with:

Test mode 1
-For reading off stored faults. Up to 47 different faults can be stored.

Test mode 2
-To check signals from solar sensor and speedometer.

Test mode 4
-To check electrical circuits in A/C system, reset information on damper limit positions and change transmission speed.

Note! Switch off ignition before switching from one test mode to another.
The ECC control unit is connected to diagnostic unit B position 1. If a fault occurs which is detected by test mode 1, a fault signal is issued which involves the ”rec” and ”ac off” indicator lights flashing for about 20 seconds.
A fault warning is given immediately if a fault is discovered during setting, and also each time the ignition is switched on or the engine started. If a fault code is stored because of a temporary fault which then clears, no fault signal is given when the ignition is switched on or the engine starts.





Test mode 1

Test mode 1 is used to read off stored DTCs for faults detected by the control unit diagnostic system.

-Ignition on.
-Press button, and keep it pressed for about 1 second.
-Read off LED flashes.

If LED does not light up when pressing button, perform fault tracing for communication with the control module.
If display reads 1–1–1, no DTCs are stored.
If display shows a code other than 1–1–1:

-Display DTCs.
-Press button as above again to see if there is more than one DTC.

-Display all DTCs.

When the first DTC reappears, this means all DTCs have been displayed.
The delete the DTCs.
Perform fault tracing for the DTCs read off.




Test mode 2


Test mode 2 is used to see if there are signals from the speedometer and solar sensor.

Note! Some preparation is necessary to modify signals to test mode 2.
Shield the solar sensor (cover it over).
For test of the speedometer signal, jack car up so wheels can turn freely.

Warning! Chock rear wheels and set handbrake.
The equivalent road speed needs to be at least 5 mph (10 km/h) before the control module can detect the signal.


-Ignition on.
-Press button twice (for about 1 second each time).


The LED should start flashing rapidly once test mode 2 is activated.
The control unit now checks to see if the signals from the speedometer and solar sensor are correct. There are two acknowledgement codes which can follow.


If display responds with code 1–1–2:
-Signal from solar sensor is correct.


If display responds with code 1–1–3:
-Signal from speedometer is correct.


If the solar sensor is activated at the same time, the solar sensor acknowledgement code will appear first (1–1–2) followed by the road speed signal acknowledgement code (1–1–3); the control unit will continue to flash these codes until the ignition is switched off.


If neither acknowledgement code is received, the LED will continue to flash rapidly.


If LED does not light up when pressing button, perform fault tracing for communication with the control module.


To exit from test mode 2:
Switch ignition off to exit test mode 2 once checks have been made.




Test mode 4

General

Test mode 4 is used to:
-Control AC relay output (compressor ON/OFF).

Note! This function has been deleted with the effect from chassis Nos. 854–109023 and 855–019949

-Self–adjustment of damper motor limit positions
-Change the transmission speed from the control unit to the diagnostic unit

Note! The control unit controls must be in the right setting for giving the control code concerned.


Settings for checking A/C relay output
-Start engine
-Set fan setting on control unit to a manual position (i.e. not AUTO or 0)
-Air distributor switch to AUTO

Settings for adjustment of damper motors
-Fan control in manual at about mid setting
-Recirculation ON
-Left-hand temperature control set to MAX cooling (blue mark)
-Right-hand side temperature control set to MAX heating (red mark)
-Air control set to point between Ventilation and Defroster
-A/C switch may be set either to ON/AUTO or OFF (the setting does not affect calibration)

Activation
-Ignition on.
-Press button four times (about 1 second each time).
The LED lights up once test mode 4 is activated. The control unit can now receive a control code.
Entering codes

Codes must be entered one step at a time, while watching the LED. The LED will go off after each digit has been entered. It will then light up again for the next digit to be entered.
Entering each digit in the code must not take more than 4 seconds. Failure to do so within four seconds means that the control unit will be unable to accept that digit. You will have to abort the input.

-Switch ignition off and on. Restart test mode 4.
Example: to enter code 3–1–2:
Unit must be in test mode 4 (LED on).

-Press button three times (for figure '3'). The LED will go out. Wait until it comes on again.
-When the LED comes on, enter the next digit.
-Press button once (for figure '1'). The LED will go out. Wait until it comes on again.
-When the LED comes on, press button twice (for figure '2')

*Code 3–1–2 is now entered.

Exiting
To exit test mode 4:
Switch ignition off to abort test mode 4 once all checks have been made.


Controlling air–conditioning (A/C) relay

-Note! This function has been deleted with the effect from chassis Nos. 854–109023 and 855–019949.
Enter control code 1–1–1 as shown in 'Entering codes' above.

-Press button three times (about 1 second each time). Leave a short pause after each time to allow the LED to come on again.
The control unit will respond with:
-Switches A/C relay on and off five times (10 seconds on, 10 seconds off).
-Switches compressor on and off.
-Operating and extinguishing A/C LED on control module.
If A/C relay does not respond to control code, there is test to perform fault tracing.