Air Conditioning problem (yes Summer is here :-)

**TenaciousC** · Saturday 22nd May 2010, 15:37

Hi,

Air con was failing / nonexistent. Assumed needed a regas so bought Hellfrauds kit. Started engine, turned on AC and attached bottle&meter to Low pressure port behind OS headlamp. Reading 100+ Psi. This is not normal. Meter is OK as used on another car and readings were normal.

Also noticed no clicking of magnetic clutch and not surprisingly no cold air coming out of vents.

Any ideas what's going on?

Cheers

C

**Flatout Phil** · Saturday 22nd May 2010, 16:53

Originally Posted by TenaciousC

Hi,

Air con was failing / nonexistent. Assumed needed a regas so bought Hellfrauds kit. Started engine, turned on AC and attached bottle&meter to Low pressure port behind OS headlamp. Reading 100+ Psi. This is not normal. Meter is OK as used on another car and readings were normal.

Also noticed no clicking of magnetic clutch and not surprisingly no cold air coming out of vents.

Any ideas what's going on?

Cheers

C

In all likelihood, the clutch on the AC is worn and not able to engage. On the T5 I had mine reshimmed by a clever chap who dived under the car for twenty minutes. Are you getting lights on your AC controls - and are they continuous?

Forget top-up kits. Bite the bullet and get a mobile AC guy to come round. Yes it costs a few quid more, but SO worth it as they will in all likelihood be fully familiar with 850 foibles.

**nobananas** · Monday 24th May 2010, 19:23

You could try shorting out the low pressure switch on the ac pipe near the bulkhead. If the ac pump kicks in then you may just need a re-gas. The clutch on mine was weak and would kick in if I gave it a direct feed off the battery but wouldn't if connected up normally (current drop through the wiring you see) I wired up a switching relay between the battery and the clutch that was triggered by the original feed and the additional current is just enough to kick it in properly.

**rocket ronny** · Monday 24th May 2010, 20:02

measure the air gap on the clutch it should be around 0.4 mm once it gets around 0.8 it wont engage , plenty of info on the web about reshimming the clutch very common problem

**SKIDMARKS** · Monday 24th May 2010, 21:39

Had mine regassed Sat. Full dealer history and had nearly double the gas in it

Wonder it hadn't exploded........nice n cold now with half the gas !!

**TenaciousC** · Tuesday 25th May 2010, 06:08

Thanks everyone for your help. I suspect that the compressor clutch may need reshimming. Also to note that my initial observation about 100psi in the low pressure IS actually normal if the compressor isn't running. (I subsequently tested on my other car with engine off and found a similar pressure there too).

Thanks again.

C

**siamblue** · Tuesday 25th May 2010, 16:11

Just had mine done today as it was running only on cool, it had 620g of gas in it, so topped it up and now the missus says " it is too cold now lol"...

**crazy badger** · Thursday 3rd June 2010, 21:29

How much gas should it have in it? I took mine in earlier this week and they said it had no gas when it went in and they got 1000g in!

It was lovely and cold for 10-15 minutes and then back to the warm air before the visit. Following day was nice and cold again for 10 minutes and then back to warm air.

Going back in on Tuesday but any ideas?

Thanks

**Flatout Phil** · Thursday 3rd June 2010, 22:00

Originally Posted by siamblue

Just had mine done today as it was running only on cool, it had 620g of gas in it, so topped it up and now the missus says " it is too cold now lol"...

Yes, my wife is just the same.

**Flatout Phil** · Thursday 3rd June 2010, 22:01

Originally Posted by crazy badger

How much gas should it have in it? I took mine in earlier this week and they said it had no gas when it went in and they got 1000g in!

It was lovely and cold for 10-15 minutes and then back to the warm air before the visit. Following day was nice and cold again for 10 minutes and then back to warm air.

Going back in on Tuesday but any ideas?

Thanks

My T5 with the the compressor clutch issue first manifested itself by doing this - could be that.

**TenaciousC** · Monday 7th June 2010, 08:47

Hi All,

Happily before engaging a man to look into this for £££s I happened upon this page:

http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/for...hp?f=1&t=29563

And suddenly recalled that when I removed the dashboard top recently, I noticed that blue relay behind the glove box had popped out. I shoved it in, but in replacing the glove box, I could have knocked it back out again.

Sure enough! It was out again. I pushed in back in, and CAREFULLY put the glove box back. Hey presto air-conditioning back on!

So the lesson here is that the blue relay behind the glove box makes the air conditioning work, and can easily be knocked out by the glove box being removed/replaced. :-)

Cheers!

C

**crazy badger** · Thursday 10th June 2010, 21:40

Originally Posted by Flatout Phil

My T5 with the the compressor clutch issue first manifested itself by doing this - could be that.

Well, still only 5-10 minutes of air con at a time :-(

Garage couldn't find the problem only having the car for half a day. They did say the pump was leaking (UV dye fitted when re-gassed could be seen) but the problem appeared to be too much pressure in the system which was switching the pump off.

I'm also having problems with the engine idling, mostly after a long run when the engine is nice and warm. Oil (5W30) is thinning out and as a result of hunting I get the Oil Light and Pressure Warning Message flashing on and off on dashboard.

Not the best diagnosis, but any ideas?

51 T5 Ex-police so done almost 185k but still drives well and want to try and keep her going if its still economical to do so!