Hi all,

I have a 2007 Volvo XC90 3.2. My A/C is blowing warm air. It shows the green A/C light, it blows on all levels, but it's warm. It has very low refrigerant in it. It wasn't filling with a recharge bottle. We noticed the clutch wasn't engaging and I saw the 'trick' about manually engaging the clutch to try to add refrigerant. The clutch did engage, however we still weren't able to refill the refrigerant. We did this with the A/C running full-blast. Nothing happened when we pulled the trigger on the recharge bottle.

Can't figure out how the compressor could be running, but it won't fill refrigerant. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thank you!

 

the correct solution is to have a pro-shop recharge via a vaccuum, inject some dye to see why it ran low in the first place. That said, the AC system has two cut off switches - a low pressure switch and a high pressure switch. When you jumpered the low pressure switch, it allowed the compressor to kick on. You will want the engine running and the AC set to max cold/REC switch on/fan on high to ensure the compressor stays running. Most refill kits come with a gauge/valve and low side port connector (the two ports have different sizes these days so its kind of hard to connect to the wrong one... just look for the larger AC line that is coming from the evaporator (via the firewall) back to the compressor. Same for finding the low pressure sensor. Check the pressure when you start. If its totally empty, you may need a pro to service the system and you probably don't want to run the compressor too long w/o a charge as that circulates the oil. If its just low and needs more freon there should be some pressure reading on the guage. Check your kit's directions to make sure you orient the can the correct way (ie vertical / bottom down?) and you can shake/swirl the can to make sure you get fluid/oil etc into the car.

 

Defective can/valve or not installed correctly on port.