Hello Friends,

Time once again to request the assistance and wisdom of the "board".
My 98 V70 AWD is giving me grief. When we first turn on the ECC system
(Electronic Climate Control) it will work for approx. ten second and then the lights on the recirc. and a/c panels will flash for 20 seconds. According to the manual, this indicates a fault in the system. I took the car into a local indie shop today and was told that their diagnostic equipment could find not faults in the system. Any ideas? Perhaps it is only a coincidence but this only started to happen after I had temporarily removed the head unit (SC-816) to hook up a CD changer; could this have caused a problem? I specifically requested the service facility to check for any loose wires/connections that I may have caused in the altercations with the stereo.

Thank you.

Your indy shops equipment could not find a fault in the system because it is not capable of accessing the system. You need a VST to do that with (Volvo Scan Tool). The panel lights do not flash like that for fun, they do so because it has logged a fault code in your system. You might have bumped something loose but it is not likely. If I had to guess I would say a faulty blower fan and/or power stage but without pulling the codes you can't say for sure. Did you local Indy charge you for not diagnosing your a/c problem?

Mark

How hard to change the blower fan, as my lights flash also. But only with the sys n aut. I went to manual and it works great. Is this something related only to the auto side of the sys?

the local indie did not charge me for this.
thank you.

Blower fan on that thing is a walk in the park. You might be able to find a fag on it here or at Bay 13 but the basic gist of the deal is to remove the under dash panel, pull the glove box (really just so you can see what you are doing), pull the knee bolster and then pull the blower motor. Once you have the previoulsy mentioned stuff out of your way you will be able to see what it takes, I believe it is 4 torx head screws and pull a couple of connectors out of your way and the thing will damn near fall out on your foot. There is a mount piece for the knee bolster that will kind of get in your way and you will need to angle the motor in and out around the thing but it is no big deal. Are you going to replace the power stage as well or try just the fan to start?

Mark

Mark,

Is there any way to test the blower fan before I pull this all apart?

Thank you,

Roger

What you need to do is get it diagnosed properly first. That is good that your local Indy did not charge you, good to know there are some ethical techs/shops out there. You need to find a shop that specializes in Volvos and has the ability to pull that code out of there.

You can test the fan but that might not give you a difinitive answer. You say it works for the first 10 seconds or so, does the fan blow at this time for the first 10 seconds? If so you could probably assume that it is OK, however it may be on its way out and is pulling more current then the system will allow for so it posts a code and shuts it down. It could be an internal fault in the power stage causing the same problem. It could also be some other problem like a temp sensor malfunction.

To test the fan you would need to take a look at the schematic and supply it with power and ground and see how it works. You might also want to have it all hooked up and fire the car up and see if you have current at the fan or not. See what is really happening in that first 10 seconds or so.

In looking at the schematic for a '98 S70 the blower fan is hot all of the time and the power stage controls its path to ground. If you jumper the blue lead to the black lead at the power stage it should provide ground to the fan motor and it should run at full speed. The two pole connector at the power stage with two fat leads in it, B1 and B2.

Mark

At the present time, things are working great in manual mode. I would probably change both while I was there. I don't have any codes either for this, just the flashing lights.

Bob

How is it that you know you have no codes for it? The flashing light is your indicator that it has stored a code. If you do not know what the code is or if you even have one why are you considering replacing the blower fan?

Mark

Is it checked the same way as every other code? I plugged into A2 and no codes were there. Only 1-1-1. Is there another place to pull the codes or another socket? I just assumed since I had the flashing lights and the same symptoms, I must have the same problem. I guess I know what happens when you ass-ume.

Bob

A2 is the fuel injection diagnostic port, you will be wanting port B1. Pull codes the same way you would at the A2 port and let me know what it says. It may very well be a bad fan and power stage but you never know it could be dirty sensors too.

Mark

I pulled the codes from B1, 3-2-5, 4-1-4, and 4-1-7.
Where do I find what they mean?
Thanks,
Bob

325, Recirculation shutter motor active too long.

414, Interior temp sensor fan,driver's side, opreation inhibited.

417, Interior temp sensor fan, passenger side, operation inhibited.

You more than likely have a bunch of crap and crud in you sensors. They are located underneath the "chicken straps" up by your head on either side. Go ahead and pull the straps and then pull the headliner down enough to get the sensors out. They should be held in by a couple of torx screws and the space you will have to work in will be limited making it a bit of a pain in the ass. Pull them out and clean them with a little compressed air, but be careful not to screw them up.

I would not give a lot of credence to your 325 code at this point. Clean the sensors, clear the codes and then recheck for flashing lights.

Mark

I will check them and get back with you. I just bought the car in March and the previous owner installed a cabin filter. Can a dirty filter cause these sensors to get crud in them?

Bob

No, the temp sensors are not located in the airstream that the cabin filters. The cabin filter only filters the air that goes through the evaporator which is located in the dash. The two temp sensors that those codes reference are up under the grab handles so they just suck in the ambient air that is in the passenger compartment. I find that they are usually full of crud that looks more like drier lint than anything else.

Take a look in the FAQ's both here and at Bay 13 and you may even find a tutorial that outlines it.

Mark

Thanks, I'll check it out.

Bob