Bought a 1994850 Turbo 85k miles about 3 months ago. Generally in excellent condition but cabin heating has gone steadily downhill.over that time to the point where 20 mins of driving nowproduces a barely tepid flow of air which never gets hot.Other posts indicate that a tired thermostat may be getting even more tired. Is this likely to be the case and should I find the 87 degree replacement rather than the 90 degree which Volvo stocks? Thanks for any feedback.

 

Does the engine temp guage rise or is it saying your cold too?
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I will check going home tonight but don't believe there has been any change.

 

Hello highlander,

Greetings from Chicagoland.

This is the worst time of the year not to have cabin heat, I'm sorry about the problem.

If the coolant temp gauge points at 3 O'Clock or slightly higher, the thermostat is probably ok. Try feeling the radiator upper hose to see if it's getting hot, but watch out for the cooling fan.

If it is hot, I assume that the water valve is not allowing hot coolant to enter the heater core inside the cabin, so the problem could be around there. If not, one of the temp damper motors may beshot (but if so, the other one still allows some heat...)

I assume your climate control is electronic, so try pulling codes via OBD-I (socket B1)/OBD-II (the latter requires OBD-II scanner, the data-link receptacle is in front of the shifter, right under the coin holder). Do you see "REC" & "AC" LED's blinking after start-up? If so, there is (are) code(s) in the ECU, but sometimes the LED's don't blink even if there is a code.

Please give us any additional findings, when you have a chance.

Cheers,


JPN

 

Thanks for input. Temp guage is very slow going up and rises to about 1/3 which seems to correspond to a bit less than 3 o'clock. I will check hoses etc.

 

Thermostat might be stuck open. Change it just in case. It costs pennies.