240
When I got my 240, the AC wouldn't get cold until after about 5 minutes, making me thing that it wasn't working 100%. It now doesn't get cold at all. Can I assume that it just needs a re-gas? If so, how much roughly does this cost? And if not, what could the problem be?
If it's going to be an expensive fix I'm happy to leave it but I thought it would be worth looking into.
Thanks.
VolvoDeger
Hard call as you need to know if electrical or gas loss even too high pressure, if gas loss and no obvious leaks make sure they put a dye in the system.
240
So the best thing to do is probably to take it to an AC shop and see what they say?
VolvoDeger
yes get a a/c place to check
tissueboxonwheels
Where's a good place to get my mum's volvo 240 a/c serviced? My old aircon service shop has closed down - and my current volvo shop wants to charge me twice of what other places are offering. Its been overhauled 2 - 3 times by various shops - and probably ripped off in the process - and there is still a leak somewhere. Two shops put in a dye but for some reason they can't seal it.
Ex850R
In Moorabin area is VOLDAT (03) 9553 1091
Or BERRY MOTORs @iceton1975 , in Mitcham area , both well worth travelling for , no bs service and nice folk to boot.
tissueboxonwheels
Anyone used Mideast radiator service
http://www.mideastradiators.com.au ?
themadracoon
Hope I'm not hijacking the thread, but I also have an AC query....
1984 240GL. AC compressor not kicking in when AC knob turned away from off/ min. position. Cabin fan on (and working). Wondering if it's the AC relay in the dash. I believe it's located below the fan switch, behind the facia/console.
My question is: do I need to remove radio and lower part of the console to get at it to see/test, or is there an easier way of getting to it (eg keep radio in, or via ashtray mount) ? Was going to test by applying 12V across input (switch) terminals.
240
From memory, when I pulled half my dash apart recently - I think the AC relay is sort of on the right hand side of the centre console, as you said. You'll need to take off that whole front part of the console (it's just a few screws) although before you do that you need to take off both side panels from the footwells. Not sure how your radio's set up but you may or may not need to remove it. You should be able to figure out what else you need to do from there.
This got me thinking though - is that the case, that a bad relay can cause the compressor not to kick in? Because it might be worth me looking into this - how do I actually check whether the compressor is kicking in? (I know, probably a stupid question, sorry!)
lasercowboy
If your radio is in the lower cubby, order of business needs to be:
1) Take off side/kick panels from console (remove top front screw and bottom quarter-turn fastener, and a black quarter-turn fastener at the back if it's still there) on each side.
2) Remove screws at the sides of the radio holding it into the radio cubby.
3) Pull radio forward and remove plugs from the back (may be an earth wire that needs unscrewing).
4) Remove bottom screws from front of centre console (hidden in carpet) and edge it forward. Remember where everything plugs into, and remove all of the cables. For switches, it's usually easiest to remove them one at a time - pull the plug off and the bulb carriage out, push the switch unit forward through the console to free it, then reconnect the plug and carriage. That way you can't get the wrong bulb/connection mixed up with the wrong switch.
The aircon switch is slightly different - be careful with it, as the white-clad thing is a tube and not a cable, so don't bend/buckle it. For this one, pull the knob off the front and remove the little panel with the glyph on. Behind that is a nut that you can undo to remove the switch from the back of the centre console. Don't lose the nut or washer behind it!
Once that's done, your centre console should be free, and you'll find two small, silver relays clipped behind the centre rail - one of which is for the aircon.
240
I finally did something about this today and went into an AC place. They did a pressure test on the system and found it was fine, the guy told me that the compressor wasn't coming on, probably due to an electrical problem.
Where do I start?
lasercowboy
Take it to an air-con shop.
familyman
Well, electrical means checking fuses then start following wires. The dash is the most likely place - that someone has pulled off a wire when they've been in there doing something else like installing a stereo. But first follow the wires from the compressor see if anything has obviously been disconnected.
e.g. I haven't done anything specifically with aircon. But if those go to a relay and all the wires are connected, then you'd run the engine, raise the revs to a little over 1000 rpm to be sure the aircon compressor clutch power is on (you'll need 3 hands - one to turn the throttle spool - or someone's foot on the accelerator), and check the relay with a multimeter. So you'd need to learn what to expect to see on the meter at the relay. Easy enough to find online.
But without that, a basic check is to put the meter on Volts DC, put one probe (doesn't matter which the volts will just show a minus sign - so who cares) on the black/negative battery terminal, the other probe to the positive terminal (just to check your probes are contacting correctly first) then move the probe from the positive battery terminal to each wire/pin of the relay (without unplugging them). One of them should have about 12V DC.
If not, then there's an electrical fault from there backwards towards the dash. If there is 12V DC, then the fault is either the relay, or from the relay towards the compressor.
If it's towards the compressor I can't help any more, apart from saying check for obvious breaks in wires. After that... I guess there must be a solenoid on the compressor and that isn't activating for some reason.
If it's toward the dash:
Pull the padding off the passenger side, take the dash apart gently/slowly (there's a couple of dozen wires in there and it's easy to pull one off by mistake and lose track of where it goes. Hint: take plenty of photos with your phone from different angles just in case). Then follow the wires and see why it has no power. Disconnected from the fuse block, etc.?
Hard to do more than generalise from this point. But assuming there's a relay closer to the compressor, the switch would have a ground wire and a 12V wire coming "in", and a 12V wire going "out" to the compressor. Turning on the switch activates the relay, which powers on the compressor clutch. Any one of these wires off means no clutch = compressor no-turny.
familyman
Oh - and the shop wouldn't mention what the fault was, even if they saw something obvious, since they want you to come back and to pay for it all to be fixed at the same time. So they'd be able to fix it but may be thinking they get to charge more for putting a wire back on a terminal. (I'd be checking the place has a good reputation.)
Angus242164
It sounds to me like the system was always low on gas, and then eventually ran out completely.
The first thing to do is take the caps off the ports on the top of the compressor and momentarily stick the tip of a Phillips screwdriver into the ports to open the schrader valves. If you have good gas pressure, you will get a "pssht" of gas with a fair bit of pressure behind it. Wear safety glasses, and look away while doing it. If you get very little release, or none at all, lack of gas is your problem.
If you have lost the gas, it's because of a leak somewhere. If the system has dye in it (look for green liquid around the schrader valve after doing the above test) then you can look over everything carefully for signs of the fluro green dye.
If you can't find any signs of a leak, take it to a reputable AC tech and get them to look for leaks, they can do things like look for the dye with a UV light, and apply a vacuum to the system to help find leaks. They probably use smoke machines these days too.
If it all comes up OK, it may be a very small leak, and your only option will be to get a "gas and go" done, if so make sure they add dye, to make future diagnosis easier.
If you find a leak and end up needing to replace any parts, I have most system parts in stock for 240's.
240
@Angus242164 I took it to an aircon place yesterday where the guy put a pressure tester type thing on the port and said that it had enough gas to run OK - but the compressor wasn't coming on. So he said that there'd be an electrical problem stopping it from coming on.
@familyman the guy seemed pretty honest and I watched him do the whole test, so I think he's to be trusted. The bottom line was that power isn't getting to the compressor and he said it could be something simple like a fuse, or something more complicated.
Thanks for your other tips though, I will have a play around at some stage and see if I can track down the problem. Otherwise, it may indeed be off to the AC shop.
familyman
I wasn't suggesting he was dishonest if that's the way it came across. Your post almost sounded like he make you think he was shrugging his shoulders at what it could be - and I was suggesting what he was probably really doing instead, was thinking he can just deal with it all at the same time if you decided to come back.
The suggestion to get check references was more because aircon is a pain at the best of times, let alone in a 240. I paid a guy my father knew to leak test and regas aircon. He said leave it overnight. I said I didn't care if it took longer - that I just want it working and cold. Phoned him the next day, he said it's ready come and get it. I turn up and it was only a couple of degrees cooler than the outside air. A total pointless waste of money. And he gave me no further options - what it was, was as good as it gets.
So I was suggesting to get references before going ahead, because someone that knows the cars/system components because they've been through it before, may suggest a different gas mix, upgrade certain components right from the start - thus reducing his time spent (and your cost) because he's "been there, done that".
240
Oh, I see what you mean, that makes perfect sense.
I don't know anyone personally who's used this place but all the info on the internet (including a local Canberra forum) seems to be that they're excellent. Certainly when I rang up a few different places these guys sounded the best on the phone (he actually talked about the procedure a bit and asked questions about the car, whereas most other places just gave a quote and that was that).
He wasn't really shrugging his shoulders, but since he was just doing a free assessment sort of thing he wasn't going to go searching for the prooblem - he tested the gas and found it was fine, got his electrical probe light out and found there wasn't power getting to the compressor.
Angus242164
The electrical side of the system is very simple, you really just need to keep probing at different points until you get to a point where you do have power, to locate the cause of the open circuit.
You basically have power coming from the battery, through the ignition switch, to the fuse panel, through the AC fuse, through the AC relay, then the pressure switch, and on to the compressor clutch. Everything is in series, so you can move along the system one point at a time with a test light.
I would go to the fuse next, if you have power there, then the fault lies somewhere between the fuse and the clutch, and you can start narrowing further.
240
Thanks @Angus242164 , I know there is power at the fuse because that fuse is connected to other systems which still work.
I have wiring diagrams from earlier 240s (mine is a 92), but I assume it's somewhat similar?
Where is the relay physically located in the car?