Hi all
Well I have had this s60 for almost four years and put 50K miles on it and now it is needing some attention.
The rack is leaking some out of the right side boot and I am having a hard time finding a replacement, my car has the speed assist steering and at this point it is looking like my opinions are a dealer new or sending in my rack for a reman. I have been thinking about getting a rack from a salvage yard to send for reman so I will not be without the car for a week or longer. I have been thinking that there cannot be that much to replacing the seals in my current rack, but I have not been inside of one. Does anybody have any idea what it involves?

My climate control is not working properly, with the heat or AC. I started thinking that it was not right this spring when it was still cold and now with it hot out the AC is not working right.
When I get into my car on a sunny day and it is 85° outside it is over 100° inside the car. With the climate control thermostat set at 68° on both sides the fan will run at a higher speed for approximately 3 minutes and then it slows down to very slow speed. The compressor will run for approximately 10 minutes and then it starts blowing hot air, if I shut the AC off with the button on the control panel for 3-4 minutes and turn it back on it will work again for about 10 minutes but the fan does not speed up at all.

The fan was working the same way with the heat and the only way I could get the fan to go to high was use the speed control on the panel.
I have cleaned the sensor holes in the control panel with a vacuum and that didn’t help. I have also checked the drain for the evaporator and it was clear. I did pull the control panel to check if there was any dust or lint anywhere on the back of it but I didn’t see anything. With the control panel out of the dash and everything plugged in I turned the ignition on and tried to see if I could feel or hear a little fan running on the back side of the panel but I could not.
Any information, ideas, or help would be appreciated.
Thank you
Gene

Monday morning it was 48 degrees outside when I went to work. I got into my car and set the thermostat on both sides of the car at 74 than I started the car and headed to work. The heater fan was on low speed and as the temperature came up it started blowing warmer air, the fan never increased speed and after driving for about 15 minutes it was getting colder in the car.
The heat was not working very well at all so I turned the thermostat to 76 and the fan still did not speed up but the air coming out of the vent was getting warmer. I turned the fan up using the fan dial switch and it finally got warm in the car.
Could this be related to the AC compressor clutch not working?
The AC and heat both are not working right and I really do not think it is just the compressor clutch that is causing the problem with the heat.
Any ideas what could be the cause of both the heat and AC to work for a short time and then stop working?
Thanks again
Gene

If the cabin air temp sensor is drawing air in as it should you can hold a tiny piece of Kleenex/toilet paper against the intake slots and it will suck the Kleenex against the intake. I think you may have to have either AC or heat turned on.

As for the fan speed not changing.... I don’t know if you have a fancier HVAC control than my 03 V70 (“Svedka”) but on mine the fan speed never changes with a temperature knob change. The only time the fan speed changes automatically is when I first turn on the defrost and it goes to Max fan speed. Then I can override the fan speed if I want by turning down the fan control knob.

Chris I think you are onto something.
Yesterday afternoon it was 88° outside, I grabbed a piece of Kleenex started the car, with the thermostats set at 68°. I heard the AC compressor clutch ingage and the fan speed up. I held a piece of Kleenex over the little three hole vent in the control panel and when I let go of it it fell off.
With the car sitting in the driveway tthe AC compressor clutch engages in disengages, and the fan continue to run at the higher speed for about two minutes. Then the fan speeds slow down but the compressor continue to cycle for about 10 minutes. At this time I do believe that I heard a door in the dashboard change directions?.
This morning it was 58° I went out and got in the car turn the thermostats on both sides up to 74°. I started the car and the fans did not increase in speed at all, I held the piece of Kleenex over the three hole port in the control panel and it dropped off. I sat in the car and watch the temperature gage and when it started coming up I could not feel much heat coming from any of the vents , I used the manual knob increase the fan speed and I could feel warm air coming out of the vents. After the temperature gage was up to normal operating temperature and I had sat in the car for sometime the air coming out of the vents started to cool down, keeping in mind I am doing this with both front doors open. I increased the temperature on the thermostat and warm air started coming out of the vents and when I turned the thermostat to maximum heat the fan speed increased to maximum speed with hot air coming out.
Sometime ago I pulled the control panel out of the dash, I started the car and try to find if there was some kind of a little fan behind the temperature sensor that was running. I could find nothing that sounded or felt like anything was drying air past the sensor behind the three little holes in the control panel

Gene,
There are a couple possible AC problems that come to mind and it is fairly easy to decide which one to chase after with the best chance of a fix. The first one is that maybe the compressor clutch isn’t staying engaged, and the second is that the evaporator is freezing up due to a faulty evaporator temp sensor.

To check the first possibility run the AC until it starts to Peter out. At that point take a look at the compressor with the engine running and AC on. See if the center section of the clutch is spinning along with the outer pulley. If the center section is turning and the low pressure lines are icy cold then you can assume the clutch is OK. If the clutch won’t engage and disengage when commanded by turning the AC switch on and off then you may have a worn clutch issue and you’ll want to explore how to shim the clutch. Plenty if write ups on that procedure already exist on this forum.

Now if the compressor clutch is staying engaged along with producing icy low pressure lines then you want to check out the evaporator sensor. What happens is that the sensor fails to disengage the clutch when the evaporator starts to freeze up. So the evaporator builds up more and more ice until it starts to restrict the cabin air flow- it's not the fan slowing down. The sensor is located in the LH side of the evaporator box above the gas pedal. You have to drop the drivers kick panel to access it. It pulls out with a tug - just a tight fit. Pay attention to which way it’s rotated as the air is supposed to pass through it in a certain direction. You can test the sensor with an ohm meter at different temps.

A healthy sensor will show the following resistance values at the given temperatures:
32 deg F (freezing) = 10K + or - 200 ohms.
77 deg F = about 3K ohms.

Good luck!

Thank you for your reply’s, I have been working on home repairs for the last two weeks.
Klaus do you know where I can find more info on the location of the sensor in the evaporator? I hope I will have some time to check it out this week and get back to cool driving

Take a look at this:
https://volvoforums.com/forum/2001-2013-model-year-v70-55/c-compressor-shim-option-78578/

Plastic zip ties also work. I would use the 6" long ties and cut off the excess. Just 3 points around the clutch. Quite easy to do.

I did not realize that your car had over 100K.

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Keeping it running is better than buying new

If the rack isn’t leaking too badly you might try a flush and a replace with the Volvo recommended fluid. I’m assuming the fluid is synthetic in your rack. On older Volvos, including my 95 850, the fluid was not synthetic and converting to synthetic can stop the leak. Worked on my 850! Synthetic cleans the seals after about a month or so. If you happen to have conventional fluid in your rack, well worth a shot IMO...
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Will I buy another Volvo??? We'll see....

I agree. If the power steering pump is belt driven, the fluid is normally ATF. A flush and fill with Mobile 1 synthetic has stopped a lot of leaks.
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Keeping it running is better than buying new

Your car has a thermostat in the evaporator which may have gone bad. It is used to keep the evaporator from building up ice. Access is from the accelerator pedal side - a little painful to get to, but DIY'able. Once the ice builds up, air cannot get through and you do not get cold air. Turning the engine off, or AC off, lets the ice melt and you get another 10 minutes of cold.

Like this:
https://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/2004/volvo/s60/climate_control/a-fs-c_evaporator_temp_sensor.html

Because your car only has a few miles on it, I would not suspect it is the compressor clutch.
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Keeping it running is better than buying new