2003 V70 Base, 2.4 N/A 200,000 miles.

I’ve got an issue with my A/C wanting to ice up. For one thing I don’t think the compressor is cycling off. Scenario: Driving along for about 20 minutes minimum. (Doesn’t freeze up on short drives.) It doesn’t seem to matter where the temp dials are set, although it might be that it doesn’t freeze up quite as fast if we run it up around 72-ish. Usually the Recycle Cabin Air button is “On”. The big airflow control buttons are set to “Auto”. So any way, we’re driving along and I’m comfortably cool and everyone else in the car is yelling at me because “it’s freezing in here.” Then gradually the airflow volume starts to decrease down to nil. The temporary fix is to shut off the A/C Compressor button and let the fan continue blowing fairly high. After about a minute the airflow begins to recover back up to the set speed and it continues to blow quite cool for about a full minute before we have to punch the compressor back on. Then in anywhere between 5-20 minutes, depending on conditions, we repeat the whole process.

So far: I have taken a vacuum cleaner and sucked out that little thermostat vent thing. A lot of lint came out.

Next I would like to verify that the condensate is draining properly. It appears the drain hose exits the cabin just above the gas pedal. I want to remove the drivers side upper kick panel so that I can hopefully get a better look at the drain and blow the hose out.

Questions:
Besides the two torx screws, what combination of prying and pulling is required to remove the kick panel in one piece?

What else could be the problem? Is there a temp sensor in the evaporator coil that might be at fault by not calling off the compressor?

Any other ideas?

Thanks.