How to replace air conditioning temperature sensor on V50 from 2004?
 

Good evening fellow Volvo enthusiasts,

I have read a lot of messages and conversations on this forum in recent years, but only created an account today.

A little bit of an image of my car:
I have a Volvo V50 with the 2.4 engine from 2004 in the color Dawn Blue. I have had this for about six years now and I enjoy it immensely. The car is mainly used as a family car, but is also sometimes a handyman-car, such as during our house renovation :-)

The car is serviced annually by the garage and I also try to repair and improve as many things as possible myself. The past month was a big one as it turned out that there was a few centimeters of water in the car so I had to look for the leak and get the car dry. The leak turned out to be the detached drain hoses from the skylight in the A-pillar: all four (including those in the C-pillar) have now been replaced. Then removed all the chairs and benches so that the entire floor could be removed to dry. And now everything is completely put together again (without any parts left ;-)) and today I took the first ride with it again. Very happy and proud!

The reason I'm finally creating a topic myself is because I'm stuck with another problem.

The air conditioning has been malfunctioning since I started owning this car. The common practice is it to work for five to ten minutes and then stop. A few years ago I adjusted the magnetic clutch gap of the air conditioning (removing the rings), but this did not solve the problem. Afterwards a few technicians worked on it, but unfortunately still no reliable air conditioning.

This week I removed the last ring from the magnetic coupling of the air conditioning and I think the gap is now what it should be. But still no normally functioning air conditioning.

After the ride today (with AC on), the AC pipe that goes into the cabin turned out to be completely frozen (see
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/volvofo...fa3f1d6364.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/volvofo...abbbffdd2d.jpg

The clutch works well because it turns on and off. And if it is the common clutch problem there would be no ice as the compressor would not be able to engage.

Now that I'm working on the car again, I can't completely let go of this problem.

Due to the frozen pipes, I would like to rule out that the temperature sensor that measures the temperature entering the cabin is not defective (if this is defective, this can ensure that the air conditioning continues to cool until everything freezes over).

After a long search I found out which part I need for my car (30665322, part 30 on this picture) and where the part is located in my car (near the cabin air filter).
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/volvofo...07d25a86a9.png


But the big question is: How do I get this one loose so i can install a new one?

The part is hidden quite high in the dashboard near the top of the hatch where the interior air filter is located. This makes it difficult for me to see clearly and feel what you are doing and how to release the sensor. Here is a photo of what the part looks like in my car.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/volvofo...92cc09a409.jpg

Now the question: Can anyone tell me what I need to do to get this sensor loose so I can install a new one?

Hopefully somebody can help me.

In any case, have a nice day!

Yours sincerely,
Jasper

Have you considered actually diagnosing the problem rather than randomly replacing parts that you think might be bad? You can easily check the signal from the evap temp sensor with a compatible scan tool to determine if it's telling the CCM to keep the compressor on too long. Another possibility is the low pressure switch shown in your photo may not be turning the compressor off when the pressure gets too low. That would be checked with some ac gauges.

In answer to your question, instructions to replace the evap temp sensor are below.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/volvofo...a8b70c230a.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/volvofo...6ffacebfa2.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/volvofo...f3a3ad5c2c.jpg

Hi Hoonk,
Thanks for your reply! Yes I did not replace any parts yet and considered diagnosing first. If I know how to do it would definitely try. I have Vdash (with apropriat OBD adapter and a OBD2 general bluetooth dongle with neither of these methods I am able to find a reading for this sesnor.

First thing I wanted to try with this sensor is put it in the freezer to see if the resistance of the sensor changes when it gets cold. But to do that I need to get it out of the car.

The instructions you included in you post to remove the sensor are not for my car. You can see that on the parts diagram and on the foto the sensor looks differently and is much closer to the air filter then in the included instructions.

Are there the instructions from VIDA? Is it possible there are other institutions for my car model?

Really appreciate the help!

The instructions come from VIDA for the car shown below. And a picture of the evap temp sensor is below that.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/volvofo...000249c24b.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/volvofo...0e7ad075c0.jpg

Is it possible it is different for a car with the steering wheel on the left and a manual transmission (I believe it is M56)? The rest seems like it should match my car....

The hvac box is the same no matter what side the steering wheel is on - and trans does not matter, instructions are the same when those parameters are put in.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/volvofo...635804e509.jpg

Thanks again!

Today i had some time to check things. And with the diagram from VIDA you posted I found out that at the spot where on the diagram it shows the sensor I only have a screw and some sort of black tape....

You can see it in this picture I took. It is in the top-middle just left-below the thick cable.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/volvofo...6d73eb0627.jpg

Does anyone know if this is normal? Or should this sensor be here and is it a sign it got removed somewhere in the history of this car?

I have a manual AC so I can not set a temperature.

I also found out that behind the smal grill behind the waterfall there is a place for a incar temperature sensor and that one is also not installed in my car. But this might be normal because it maybe only needed for cars with automatic AC? Or should al cars of this model have it?

Really hope I wil be able to fix it with some input from the users on this forum!

I reply in my own topic so maybe other people who read this later can get some usefull information out if it.

My airco is finally working!

Problem was not the evaporator teperature sensor. After much reading and trying to find the sensor in the car I found out that V50’s with only the simple air conditioning (without climate control) do NOT have this sensor!

After finding this out I shifted my focus to the sensor in the low pressure part of the system as this sensor does not report to the computer of the car so there is no error code is this one fails and one of the symptoms of this sensor failing is a frozen airco.

I found out (with VIDA) that the compressor only shuts of (shortly) when accelerating but does not turn on/of frequently like normal.

While checkin the low pressure sensor of the airco I found out that manipulating the cable to the sensor seems to influence the activity of the compressor and a few minutes later i found this:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/volvofo...22273010bf.jpg







I now fixed this cable and the airco is finally working! What a relief after years of problems with this airco.

Thank you for your help!



Kind regards,

Jasper