The air conditioner works fine when you start the car but once you drive around for 20 minutes or so, the air conditioning starts to fail and after about an hour, pipes in the engine are frozen with ice (see attached photos) It seems to start with the pipe shown in the photo on the right and then spreads.

I took it to a Volvo dealer in Edison and here is what they worked on:

"Restriction in Refrigerant System... Debris in TXV and Receiver Replace TXV and Receiver.. Evacuate and recharge system"

The parts they charged me for was a Receiver Drier, an Expansion Valve and 2 O-rings.

This service was performed at the end of July last year, so I can only say that it lasted a month or two before the weather got cold (I live in NJ).

Now that I need the air conditioning again it is failing and the pipe is freezing again. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Also, I feel like I may have be ripped off by the dealership. So any opinions on that would be helpful also.

 

I commonly see that when the evaperator temp sensor goes bad.
It is pretty common in FLA.
They can go in and read the evap temp with the A/C off. Usually when the sensor is bad it reads way off.

 

@ Tech: thanks for the information. Any idea how much a evaperator temp sensor costs?

 

I forget the price off hand. But if you can remove the lower dash panel you can replace it your self.
Actually here is a link to one.
Volvo A/C Evaporator Temp Sensor (S60 S80 V70 XC70 XC90) - Genuine Volvo 30665118 | FCP Euro

 

I know it's been a while, but we finally had a really hot day and my S60 ran fine! Thanks so much for the info, it saved me a ton if time and money!

 

Glad it helped.

 

I have the same problem..where exactly is the sensor located. I want to replace mine and fcp has the part for 32.80.

 

Under the dash on the drivers side. Remove the lower dash panel first. Then it is in the air box.

 

I have a bad sensor and going to replace it really soon. Does a bad sensor cause antifreeze consumption?

 

No...

 

HI,
Any chance one of you who performed the temperature sensor replacement on a 2001-2005 V70 LHD (US) could take a picture of the access panel which needs to be removed and post it ?

Maybe be having this issue and would love to give it a shot.

Thanks

 

I'm having a similar issue.
My A/C runs fine for about 20 minutes and the stops cooling.
If I switch the compressor off for about 2 minutes it will cool again but eventually will stop.
Any ideas?