Tech, if you read this do you by any chance work at the volvo store in winter park? I have taken my wife's car there a few times and may go again for this issue and others it has right now.

The ac in my wife's s90 will not stay cold. If the car is colder you can turn it on, see the rpm's raise slightly and hear the compressor kick on and it blows cold. However, after you drive the car for a while and it heats up, the compressor turns off and it blows warm. You can leave it off like that for a while and usually if you turn it back on it will blow cold again for a little bit then shut off and get warm again.

Last night I played with it a bit and this is what I found. The car had been sitting for a few hours in the garage so I started it, let it idle for a while to get to operating temp then turned the ac on. Everything was normal, air was cold, compressor was on and it stayed that way for 20 minutes sitting there idling. I have a cheap set of ac gauges and I hooked it up to the low side port. Pressure showed in the "normal" range and was around 30psi (from memory.) I took the car around the block and before I got to the end of the street it was blowing warm again. I kept driving but turned the ac off for 2 minutes then back on...cold again. 5 minutes later it was warm again. I drove home like that, left it running and popped the hood and saw that the compressor was off. I tapped the clutch, it kicked back on and got cold again.

Does this sound like the clutch needs to be reshimmed? If so, can the clutch be removed with the compressor still on the car? I don't mind doing the work myself if I can but I don't have the ability of evacuating the ac system and refilling it.

 

No I do not work at the Volvo Store.
I work at a Volvo repair shop in Downtown Orlando now.

Yes that sounds like the Clutch needs reshimming. You kind of need a special puller to remove the clutch to reshim it. I have half the tool now I need to make the other half so I can do it again. I had the other half where I used to work but it disappeared.

I can figure something out to make it work.

If you want to know exactly where I work shot me a PM and I will let you know. Maybe you can bring it in and have us do it. We are pretty cheap at the shop.

BTW it does not need to be evacuated

 

Sounds good, pm sent.

I was just under the assumption that if the compressor was removed the system had to be evacuated then refilled.

 

If the entire compressor is removed yes. But only the center part of the pulley has to come off.