The AC on my Volvo has died again, and the mechanic feels it needs a climate control control unit, which are not in season at the local junkyards

I am not sure what to do, they have used ones on Ebay seemingly for like 100, and a remanufactured one on FCP Euro for 542

Not sure what my best bet is

My mother is in favor of taking my car to the scrap yard, but I've had the car for like 11years and my dad got it for me, so I am rather attached

Any insights? Should I get a used one or re-manufactured one?

 

I have some. I did not think there was much of a market for them, in fact. I listed a part out thread in the for sale section for two complete 850's and nobody wanted anything. Not one piece. I'd take $25 for one and happy to get it.

 

Just to clarify, in case I'm describing the wrong part, the part that sits in the dash with the two ***** for picking temperature (with thermostat type scale), and a center **** for picking where the air comes out?

I would love to order one off you if so

 

Yes, I have that part. I'll send you a pm. It may not solve the problem, but you can certainly try it.

 

Checked the a/c clutch gap yet?
A/C pressure is fine?

 

The part from firebirdparts worked splendidly and blessed happy cold air once more!

My car is now home again and is inspected, Monday I will renew plates and take it to get a bath

 

That's great!

 

Hey, everyone.

I wanted to share my Air conditioning problem on here.
So, I purchased my 850 about two months ago, and the ac did not work and apparently hasn't been working for years. I did what everyone does and tried servicing the ac with adding some freon. This did not fix my problem. Noticed my compressor clutch was not engaging so i continued to troubleshoot that. I jumped power to the compressor and the clutch did in fact engage, so it wasn't a clutch problem. Followed wires in and out, studied wiring diagram, made sure relays worked, everything, still not working. I might mention, in troubleshooting my AC i ended up gutting my entire engine compartment wiring harness and thought i could assemble it back together.. HUGE mistake. Almost lost the car. By some miraculous phenomenon, I came across a salvaged completely intact engine compartment wiring harness. I finally, got it it the mail and dropped it in my car and luckily saved the car. Anyways, after weeks of hooking back all the wires and everything, what a wrestle, I got it back on the road and safe to drive. I started back trying to service the ac and it still was not working properly. FINALLY, the other day I got so determined to fix the darn thing, I hooked up a new can of freon, and was just following my power wire (Grey wire from compressor) up to my firewall and was focusing on my pressure switch. I unplugged the switch and jumped it with a paper clip to engage my compressor and got the system at least charged with the right spec 30-40 psi. After that I plugged back in my pressure switch and ran the ac and it still wasn't engaging my compressor properly. I wiggled the pressure switch and it would indeed click on the compressor. It was a bad pressure switch.

 

Just remember that when a car gets that old it also becomes a electrical nightmare. Also what is coming your way is the oem battery cables, the crimped connections hide the corrosion and you will start have charging system problems thinking the alt is the problem when it is really the bad battery cables. They cause very high resistances connections and hugs voltage drops and the alt. cannot see a weak battery so alt never gets to charge the battery and the system dies. The battery positive goes bad squeeze the hell out of the crimp connection with vise grips it will help for alittle while. Use a volt meter and from the alt. to battery you will see voltage drops along the way. Battery and Alt. replace last check the crimp connections first.


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