Online resources have provided me with invaluable guidance for almost every problem I've experienced with my 1986 Volvo 245GL wagon (222,000mi). Usenet and the brickboard have been particularly helpful. However, while I found significant information concerning A/C on the 240, I still had to find out the answers to many of my questions via some aggravating experiences. So, I hope my following post can help fill in some holes left by current online resources. I wrote it in the form of a list of recommendations for anyone wanting some good A/C on the 240. More importantly, I hope it can keep others from making the same idiot mistakes that I did.

SUMMARY/KEY RECOMMENDATIONS:
(1) Buy the Volvo R134 retrofit kit, regardless of whether you're going to stick with R12 or not. Why? Because the new evaporator is worth it. It's a parallel flow design, as opposed to the old evaporator's tube and fin configuration.
(2) There is one problem I ran into with this new evaporator. The inlet tube is longer than the old evap's inlet, which led to problems lining up the input to the expansion valve. Find out if you're going to have the same problem with the new evaporator's inlet tube length, then figure out how you want to solve it. I was pretty bummed out about this. Isn't this a volvo kit? Sheesh.
(3) Find a place to have custom a/c hoses made; don't buy the premade ones. This is much cheaper. (Install your components first, then have the hoses made up.) If you go this route, you can solve the evap problem.
(4) Install an electric pusher fan in front of the condenser. Use a relay to power it. Splice the control it into the compressor clutch wire, or wire it to a switch on the console.
(5) Seriously consider installing a parallel flow condenser to replace the original volvo tube and fin model. If you decide upon a parallel flow condenser, keep in mind that most of the ones that I've seen have horizontal inlet and outlet ports. The volvo hoses won't work unless you can have some fittings made which duplicate the bends on the original volvo condenser. There are other options: If you have custom hoses made, well, the problem is solved. But you can't go with as large a condenser because you're going to need room on the left side to hook up the hoses horizontally. You could also cut into the sheet metal on the left side to make room for the hose connections. This might also require you to relocate the drier. I ended up going the custom hose route. My condenser is pretty small, but it gets the job done. If I had it to do over again, I would have investigated the possibility of custom metal fittings bent to fit the original volvo hoses. It would also be nice if these fittings could be welded to the condenser, so extra o-rings wouldn't be necessary (just one more place for a leak).
(6) Definitely flush every component that you're going to reuse (except the compressor, of course). Use a flush solvent and flush gun. It's messy, but I learned the hard way that a small restriction can completely ruin your day. (It was actually a very interesting restriction...I learned the extreme importance of the equalizing tube on the TXV.)
(7) If you convert to R134, install a high-pressure cutout switch. The high side pressures are definitely much higher than with R12.
(8) Do not insulate the expansion valve, according to the volvo TSB. I didn't read it at first, and I still have black stuff on my hands.

Essentially, if you followed all my recommendations, you'd have a whole new a/c system. It made sense for me, since the a/c was completely shot on my car, and because I live in the Phoenix area, land of unbelievably blistering summers. If you live somewhere with a milder summer climate, most of this would be going overboard. At the very least, I'd say that the volvo retrofit kit is a must-have. Accept no substitutes. The evaporator is key. Compare the volvo kit's $200 price tag to ipd's recent $125 kit, which includes no evaporator, just some o-rings, drier, and TXV...sheesh!

Now I'm going to sound like a shill for this place, but they certainly have the best prices I've found. I have no affiliation with them other than as a satisfied customer. For the best prices on compressors and other stuff, try: www.ackits.com If you're in the phoenix area, they are the guys who made my hoses. One example--a brand new Seltec TM15HD compressor, direct fit replacement for the diesel-kiki... around $180 bucks (it's an r134 model, though, meaning no fill ports...you'll need inline ports on the hoses).


Regards,

HKK