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Volvo 1995 850 Air Conditioner problems

I was wondering if it is normal to hear a clicking sound when the air conditioner is on? It seems like a valve or something is turning on and off every 10-15 seconds or so.

This has been happening for quite awhile for a couple of years, and the history of the car goes like this:

- about 2 years ago, air conditioner stopped blowing cold air. I noticed a clicking sound.

- I took it to an independent repair place that specialized in volvos. They said it just needed to be recharged, so I recharged it.

- a year later, the air conditioner stopped blowing cold air again. I noticed the clicking sound again.

- I took it to a different independent repair place (I moved). He said it was a leaky compressor. I paid about $1000 for parts and repair.

- 2 months later, I am noticing the clicking sound again. However, the air is still cold.

Since the air conditioner is still blowing cold air, I am not sure whether there is something wrong with it. However the 10-15 second clicking cycle is exactly what I used to hear when the air conditioner was having problems. So I tend to think that there is still something wrong with it.

I would be interested to hear anyones thoughts on this! Thank you very much.

Reply to
squarenesswafer
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That's the indication that the compressor is short cycling, caused by a low refrigerant level. On cooler days the A/C will appear to work fine, but will not be very cold on hot days. Slowly this will get worse as more and more leak out. If you look at the front of the compressor, you'll see the front center of the pulley stop and start in time with this clicking.

Reply to
Mike F

These vehicles have a history of the evaporator failing in a way which causes leaks. It is a nasty replacement procedure as just about the entire dashboard area needs to be taken apart to get to it.

The fast cycling is probably due to freon levels getting low. An A/C pressure gauge attached to the low side port will probably tell you if the freon is getting low or not. You *might* buy a little time by recharging with some of the freon which has stop leak included, that seemed to help my '96 850 a great deal. Luckily I didn't yet have to replace the evaporator on mine.

John

Reply to
John Horner

Thank you to both of you for the response. I will see if I can get it looked at again.

Reply to
squarenesswafer

It would be interesting for me to know what you find out of. I have the same problem with a cycling compressor. Made a leak test which showed that the compressor was leaking using a much too high pressure in the test. Have you changed the compressor without any better result? Others teel me that same can happen when the filter is near to block.

Cheers Per

Reply to
Per Groth Ludvigsen

Rather than the filter, I'd suggest starting by washing the condensor (in front of the radiator) out with a hose. A nozzle on a garden hose works well. Dirt build-up on the condensor can raise the pressure a lot. Even if that's not the problem, it won't hurt and is cheap and easy.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

Thanks Mike I will try this. How is it? Should the condenser be cold on the top and warm on the bottom or opposite?

Cheers Per

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Reply to
Per Groth Ludvigsen

The condensor should be evenly warm top and bottom. The compressed gas is fed in at the top and condenses to drain at the bottom... same temperature but with the heat of vaporization removed. The liquid stays warm until it reaches the evaporator, where suction from the compressor boils it off as gas and carries the heat of vaporization away with it.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

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