Hey guys, thought I would start off with hopefully an easy one for you.

I have a 95 850 Wagon, with the manual a/c system. When I push the recirc button, I hear a motor under the dash fire up for a few seconds but nothing changes airwise out of the vents. I have tried hunting around for the motor but I cannot find it. Any ideas where I should be looking, or what I should be looking for?

It is not hugely urgent, it is currently on fresh air which is my preferred setting, but the last few days have been about 110F here so it makes the air con suffer a bit.

 

The motor is located above the blower motor about 3/4 of the way up on the intake air snorkel. The easiest way to get to it is to remove the glove box.

Nine times out of ten the linkage between the motor and the damper flap has fallen off.

...Lee

 

...or the gears inside the motor have broken.

I fixed my gear motor by shaving the teeth off the smaller gear then slipping a rubber hose over the left over area. The hose has enough softness for the larger gear to engage with. Seems to be holding up. If you do end up buying a new motor if this does not work for you make sure you check the connector, some have 4 connect points, some have 5. Probably for climate control or not systems.

 

Well .... the other thing is what is it you expect to happen ?? When you flip that switch a door either directs the system to pull air in through the cowl at the base of the windshield or it recirculates the air by changing the door to pull air in from the passenger foot well area.
You wouldn't really notice anything other than a variation in the ambient noise of the blower system.

Nothing changes coming out the vents as this has nothing to do with where the system is taking air in from. Recirc or non recirc it's still going to be as warm or cool as the setting and it's still going to blow out of whatever vents the selector (defrost, floor, vent, ...) is set to.

If you want to check it you have to pull out the glove compartment. Behind it is the recirculation motor. In the picture the lower right is the blower motor and the middle/upper left is the motor. The motors shaft is pointing to the right and on this guys unit the arm fell off.
http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/for...hp?f=1&t=41997

 

Thanks for your replies guys, it helps a lot.

The reason I know it isnt working as it should, is because when I turn it onto to recirc, fresh air still comes in through the vents. And with the fan on it makes no change to the sound of the air, which is what tipped me off to it in the first place.

Now my car being right hand drive, would I expect to be looking behind my instrument panel for this? The motor sound doesn't appear to be coming from behind the glovebox.

I have to pull the instrument panel out anyway, it flops around in it's space like a bowl of jelly anyway, but it means removing the top of my dash.

 

Found the culprit......

Pulled out the glovebox, saw straight away what was wrong.....motor turns fine, flap is nice and unrestricted but the arm is broken.....will have to try and source one to fix it.

 

Wish I was that lucky. I have one if you want to PM me your address I will throw it in an envelope. ....wait, right hand drive...where are you?

 

Adelaide, Australia......

Happy to pay for it, and postage.......spare parts for these are rare as hens teeth.

 

@ Brick 850: That's the same thing I break every time I take one loose. I keep forgetting that they can go on backwards but when you try to install the motor it breaks that piece right where your's is broken. Good thing you don't have to remove much to fix it.

@ Kiss: Man, I must say that you are the best when it comes to helping folks with pictures. Awsome!!! Glad you are hear to help.

@ Kiss: Man, I do not agree with the "Nothing changes coming out the vents as this has nothing to do with where the system is taking air in from. Recirc or non recirc it's still going to be as warm or cool as the setting and it's still going to blow out of whatever vents the selector (defrost, floor, vent, ...) is set to." statement. Every single Volvo I have had makes a very noticable change in the air flow within seconds of pushing that recycle button. The air flow in the upper dash vents (face) increases by at least 50%. The AC air is at least 20% cooler (using cabin air which is cooling down vs exterior air which is over very bad when the temp is over 90F) after a few minutes of use. When I drive around here in the summer, I have to use the recycle button in the after noon or the car will not cool off enough to stop me from sweating. Volvo does not want you to use the setting all the time because they want you to get fresh air and not freeze the system. I also use the setting when I go through tunnels up North and on dusty/smelly areas.

@ Brick850: I think it would be safe to say that several members here would be glad to send you used/new parts whenever you need them. Postage is not that bad. The only grind is that they make us fill out the customs form which takes a few minutes but we are glad to help.

 

Yeah, postage seems to be the real killer when ordering parts from the US......I need a rhs headlight wiper arm, $17.00 and $35 postage!

 

I don't think the postage is that high, at least from what I have shipped across the pond. Maybe it's the way they ship it or the fee they charge to ship it overseas (fee to fill out the custom form ).

 

There are some changes but it's just a matter of where you are drawing the air in from. Yes you will notice a difference in sound as the path to the inside is shorter and closer to the motor so it's louder but you really shouldn't be getting more flow or at least much more. Maybe you do, but it shouldn't make that big a difference.

I have ECC so the temp shouldn't change at all as the control head will move the blend doors to adjust for whatever temp the incoming air is so it can keep the vehicles interior temperature at the set point. If you're running it pegged all the way hot or all the way cold then you might get a difference in temperature at first with recirc as you're cooling already cooled air compared to try to cool hot outside air and the same in reverse for heating. As it starts to warm up or cool down though the controls will take over and blend the air output so you're not getting full heat or full cold as the control will mix it down as it approaches and finally reaches the set temp.

If you have a MCC it might make more of a difference running in recirc.

BUT .... the point is if you read his first post you might wonder if he thinks somehow hitting the recirc button will direct the air someplace else as in changing from floor to defrost or vent or something. I was just trying to make sure we were talking apples and not apples and oranges.

I've found that show and tell is the best

 

@Kiss-i think you should know absolutely for sure before you give information because you are not correct at all regarding how the recirc door affects the system. It is NOT going to be "as warm or as cool as the setting". A ECC system will make changes as necessary and automatically adjust whatever is necessary to keep the cabin and air temp output "as warm or as cool as the setting" but not so on a MCC system. Keeping that door closed on HOT days makes a huge difference on air temp coming from the vents and is probably a little easier on the A/C compressor (as long as it doesn't get too cold and start to freeze). By the way, while I'm here... I certainly DO know the difference between my Mothers Boots and a CV boot! In case you were wondering... That was very rude. For those who don't know why I said that, I'm sure Kiss does.

 

PM me the address and well see if its worth the effort.

 

Dear Rickford,

I have no clue what the "boots .. CV" refers to. If you think I said it you might want to recheck that post or refresh my memory.

"We" found this persons problem, supplied him with a picture of what to look for and he's on his way to a fix because of our help. I would think that would be good enough ??

In a couple of posts I've mentioned that this is my first Volvo and I've never claimed to be an expert. I've worked on a few here and there.

The advice you get is free and that's what it's worth. I came here to get some help and I did indeed get it and I'm only here to try to pay that back. I do my best to furnish good advice and for the stuff I don't know mine it from other sites and cross reference it so my butt isn't hanging out when I post it. I'm doing it for free so don't expect a refund.
If however I've ever misled someone I do apologize.

I have a masters in car, masters in truck and a masters in bus repair from ASE, the national certification of repair technicians and in all three I've passed heating and AC. My knowledge my not be specific to a 850 Volvo but it seems to be good enough for the rest of the US car and truck repair industry.

And I'm still not claiming to be an expert but I do fully understand how the heat/AC system works and in most vehicles (most vehicles) it doesn't make that big a difference in flow or temperature. Maybe my idea of "a big difference" and your's is different. I can live with that, can you ??

And, this issue still doesn't have anything to do with this persons problem. I only asked to make sure he knew the difference between the mode selector and the recirculation switch because in his first post it seemed to be a little iffy.

I just want to solve the guys problem and move on.

 

And I still have no clue what you are referring to but if you'd be kind enough to cut and past it and I was rude to you I'd apologize.

 

Well, I see you found the post and the apologizes are mine! It wasn't you it was the other guy. And as I re-read it I not totally shure he was talking to me, but at this point it's all water over the dam. Sorry for implicating it was you. Over & Out!

 

+1 to Kiss, just read your long post and again I want to say I apologize! I jumped the gun and started finger pointing and ended up being the rude one.
I have also gotten a ton of help from this site in the past year and thank all for their generous help and time. I guess my anger management classes aren't working... Again...Over & Out!

 

Hey recirc folks- I've got the same problem with a broken arm, but it's winter here and I thought maybe a messed up recirc could be allowing cold air in when I'm trying to heat. I hear the motor running when I flip that switch. Looks like it's spring loaded to be closed (I can pull the linkage back with my fingers- looks like it opens the door). Is that what I want to give me proper heating? I might pull stuff apart in the spring for a proper repair, but right now what I want is heat. Thanks! Dave

 

I'm in disguise so Rickford doesn't find me again

Read through the posts on what the recirculation door does and that should tell you what you want to know.

If you want heat you'll get it no matter where the recirculation door sits. All the door does is either pull in fresh air from the cowl (windshield wiper) area on the passenger outside or from inside the vehicle in the passengers foot well. Your Volvo 850 will heat better if it's in recirculation mode taking already heated air and heating it again compared to pulling in fresh colder air from the outside per RSPI and Rickford

If you are having a heating problem it's more likely one of the other blend or mode door motors that are acting up. Mine blows hot air from the bottom of the center vents and cold air at the top. It's only a two inch difference but it's very noticeable the temp difference. I just don't know which motor to go after.