I just tried to charge the a/c in my 93' 850. Turn on the a/c switch, and it took a can of 134A, but the compressor never kicked in. I checked voltage to the pressure switch, and no voltage. I hot wired the lead at the pressure switch to see if it would kick in and get cold. It did come on for about 2 minutes. I have noticed at start up the Rec and A/C lights flash about 18 times. Have not checked the a/c switch on control panel yet. Anyone know what's going on?

 

Did you read your codes?

 

Read the codes and clear them first.

 

And please note that the compressor is noted for failure, and the evaporator is guaranteed for failure.


JPN

 

My procedure for dealing with an A/C recharge is to draw the system to a vacuum. I have a 20 ish dollar vacuum pump that actually works off of an air compressor that I picked up at Harbor Freight.

After I pull the vacuum it will usually, depending on the outside temperature,suck in the first can of R-134A and the switch will kick in and let me charge it all the way up.

I hope you didn't jumper the switch and just let the compressor run without feeding it refrigerant. That would be bad as the compressor is not getting oil.

...Lee

 

I was driving along minding my own business about 5 days back when allthe dashboard warninglightssuddenly illuminated. When I recovered from theinitial fright - I realised the warning lights were for things like the handbrake was on,coolant level was low,bulbfailure etc. etc. which made no sense at all to me as the coolant level was perfect, the handbrake was definitely off and everyglobe were functioning O.K.

I called out the local breakdown people and they drove it to their garage andestablished the real fault was aseized bearing in the A/C compressor.

Why did all these lights come on if it was onlya seized bearing?

Well,theseized bearing had caused the serpentine belt to slip andslow up to such an extent that, effectively, thealternator wasn't being rotatedquickly enough which in turn caused thealternator fault light to illuminate.

Still not making much sense eh! Well, here is the interesting part.

I then had a thorough look through all the Volvo information I could get my hands on and eventually found, tucked away in a section of VADIS,the explanation. According to VADIS when the alternator light comes on it, in conjunction with an ECU,brings up the coolant level, handbrake, bulb failure etc. etc. lights.

Thought I'd better post my experience and let all you other guysknow too - just in case anyone else may run into thisstupid problem.