Hi all, I have a 2004 Volvo V70, FWD, non Turbo 2.4. I have a question regarding the A/C on these vehicles. I'm fairly new to the Volvo platform, as in I just purchased this car about a month ago and did my first timing belt job on it with the invaluable literature and information on this site and other Volvo specific sites. That said, I am nowhere near the expert and would like some direction if this is normal operation for a car like this.

The A/C in this car works, albeit it isn't as cold as I would like, but I assume it is a little low on refrigerant (it did spend its life in Florida, now imported to Canada), so I am assuming the A/C was always on in the Florida heat. What I am experiencing is that the A/C seems to depend on the RPM's of the engine, as in when the RPM's lower, the air pushing through changes with the RPM's. At normal highway speeds the air blows as you would expect.

The fan speeds all work, but when it is on any of the speeds the air will fluctuate based on the RPM's. Everything about the HVAC system works too, which is why I am not sure if it's just a Volvo quirk.

I added dye to the system to determine if there were any leaks, but AFAIK there is zero leaks after two weeks of testing and inspection.

Any clarification or other tests I can perform are welcome.

Thanks.

 

That is not normal - 1ST test I would do is make sure the voltage is the car is stable at high and low rpms. - as in the voltage regulator is not regulating.

Do you have climate control (specific degrees on the temp dials with an automatic setting) or the manual climate control (you control the temp blue to red and the fan speed)?

 

Manual climate control.

It's kind of weird as it does not do it all the time. I've been driving it all day today, so I haven't had the time to check the voltages on the alternator, battery or anything else for that matter to allow the car to "sleep" to get an accurate reading. That said when I got home I did do a look over of the car to ensure I did not miss anything when it came to the battery posts or anything else. I did find in the engine bay near the backside closest to the coolant bottle and timing covers that there is a ground strap, it is fairly green and not looking the best -- I wonder if this would have any impact? I will be replacing it either way, but perhaps this may cause it?

Additionally after viewing several videos I had seen that this car takes two different battery types? A relatively smaller or average battery (of which I have) and a much larger and wider battery, obviously the latter putting out more CCA and other variables. The car was a Florida car and it likely never needed a battery with significant CCA or overall output, but here in Canada that is a different story and I wonder if it would be wise to upgrade?

The car doesn't seem to produce any other obvious signs of voltage regulator failure, no stalling or poor acceleration, no other dimming lights or issues. Sometimes the car does take longer to crank over, which is why I am wondering if the battery is going or that ground strap is making things wonky.