Hello there,
I am very new to this site. I recentlty bought a 2000 s80 t6 6 months ago and it has 100,000 mi on it. I noticed that it has been a medium pitched whinning noise under the hood near the belt/compressor. The noise is much louder from the outside of the car than the inside. I am not car savy at all, but would like to learn as I go.I took the car to the shop and the serpentine belt was replaced, but the noise was still present. The mechanic mentioned that the compressor wasrotating before the procedure, but when i brought it back in a few days later it was not moving at all. I've read many of the posts relating to this and I'm convinced that it is the compressor. I live in new england and cold as it is i tried running the ac and saw that it stopped blowing cold air after a few minutes. I have no capability of doing any work on my car. The question I have is:
Other than having no ac what what elseif anything could go wrong without having a properly working compressor?
With everthing else working fine should i be able to travel on a 600 mi trip without this being a problem?
When I do get this fixed i only imagine it would be about 1000$, is that somewhat accurate?

Until later,
Nas

 

A non functioning compressor is not a problem, its a bad clutch that will kill you. If the compressor kicks in and the clutch doesn't release it could easily over heat and sieze.

Remember these cars have auto climate, so make sure you're not running it on auto with the A/C on (make sure you press the A/C button off) or no front defroster (no way to disable the A/C).

 

How would i know if it is both the compressor and clutch causing the problem, rather than just the clutch not releasing?
In beginner terms please!!

Until later,
Nas

 

You can hear it engage/disengage, when you have your A/C that is what the clicking noise is.

 

when i tested the ac the other day, i heard a change in sound once the ac was blowing out warm air. however, the annoying noise was still there.
So does that sound like the clutch?
Regardless, i thought i read somewhere that if you had a bad clutch, when replacing ityou might as well replace the compressor with it?

 

if its the clutch it will burn up for sure (had it happen) the pully will sieze and the belt will slip over the clutch till it destroys the belt or completely melt the clutch unit if the compressor wont urn for some reason. if the clutch gets changed everything in the entire AC system needs to be changed and flushed. you cannot just change a compressor. i dont know what it would cost on a volvo but just for an idea i will tell you that it cost me 1200 bucks to have it done on my 96 astro van at the chevy dealership... so i would count on it being much more than that on a volvo but i could be wrong. hope it works out for ya!

 

I dont think it is the clutch; there is no burning smell and the pulley looks good and spins around the compressor. The compressor itself just doesn't respond to the a/c botton.

If this was an issue with just the freon being low, would it still be making this noise?

Well, yeah that is a lot of money. But I have to make this trip and i have to get this taken care of.
Just do it .... i guess!!!

Thank you all for your time.
Until next time,
Nas

 

It would not be making the noise if the freon was low.

Do you know how to remove the drive belt?
If so I would slide it off and spin the compressor pulley itself and if it is noisey the bearing is bad.

 

Hey folks,
I went and had the entire compressor replaced with a new one and had the system flushed. Everything seems to be working fine after a week of drivng it. Most satisfying is that there is no noise. The mechanic was ableto save me 200$ on the part and the entire job came up to 989.00$ with tax and labor.

Thankyou all for your help and support.
Until next time,
Nas

 

M glad that u've changed your compressor...i've also just changed mine too including the receiver drier. Total cost & labour about USD 997.00....no joke...this parts don't cheap :-(