98-03 Volvo AC question

Check what your vent temperature is with a thermometer. 30-35deg difference from ambient temperature with recirculation setting on is usually about average between all the trucks we get through here.

Going down the road you should get a little better than that with the more airflow across the condenser.

If your vent temperature is not performing...then you have an issue.

 

Could be your cold switch (earlier models) or temperature transducer (later models). Which model year is it? Usually that will cause the a/c to either work or not, instead of not blowing cold enough.

If your fan isn't cycling, it could also be your high side pressure switch. It sends the a/c request to the engine ecm to cycle the fan. What engine do you have?

Other common yet overlooked causes are the cab filter being clogged, causing a lack of air flow from the blower. Or, which is very common, yet overlooked by most other than dealer level technicians is the heater control valve. What happens is it gets old and worn, causing it to stay open slightly, allowing hot coolant to circulate through the heater core. It's much harder to cool down air that has been heated, so the a/c system works properly, but gets overworked and can't cool the heated air sufficiently. An easy way to tell is to simply run it to operating temp, a/c on cold, and feel the heater pipes going into the bulkhead to the heater core. If they're both extremely hot, the heater control valve is stuck open. One symptom that usually goes along with that is the fan running constantly, due to the a/c trying to keep up.

 

My condensor has gone.
Volvo off brand Road Choice part is con1426. Gerry's in london on is $197. Volvo main brand $626. Red dot part is rd4 6414 0 $263. Except I'm in Thunder Bay 13 hrs away and no one has any. Figures.
Hope the info helps someone.