2000 V70 SE...

Spouse who is 500 miles away says a/c works only intermittently; sometimes cold, sometimes not. When refrigerant charge is down, it shoudn't blow cold at all/any time, right? Fan appears to be working OK. Any ideas before I send her to a/c shop or dealer?

Tks, Robert

If the lights are blinking as Klaus describes, she can buy a can of compressed air at Wal-mart and blow through the front little grill like cover of the temp sensor to clean out the dust. If that works, you can save the time and trouble of removing the sensor. I didn't have as good of instructions as Klaus has given here and was having trouble trying to get to the sensor when I read a post about this possible fix. It took care of the problem and has continued to function well for several months now since blowing it out. (I suggest not trying to poke the tube that comes with the can of air through the little grill covering - it is very fragile and will break easily - just put it up against the grill and blow the air through it.)

Good luck, Calvin (2000 V70, 88K)

Have her slide the fan switch from auto to a place where she can feel the air. Also tell her to keep an eye on the yellow lights in the recirc and ac switch. If they blink after startup, the cabin temp sensor is probably full of dirt.

Klaus
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1995 854T and 1998 V70R

Klaus, Thanks and we'll try that.

I presume the cabin temp sensor can be cleaned somehow? BTW, we always change the cabin filter per the maintenance schedule (every 15K I think it is).

Robert

Glad to hear about the cabin filter, which reminds me, it's time to do mine.

The cabin temp sensor is that little grill like thing between the switches and the ECC. To remove the temp sensor:
Pull out the radio, no need to unplug it, and balance it somewhere.
Pull out the ECC unit. The first time will be tough! Mine finally popped out and almost landed in my lap.
Put the radio back in.
Reach behind the dash and feel the plastic tube/housing for the temp sensor. There are 2 plastic push tabs at 12 and 6 o'clock, at the very front, push them toward the center of the tube and pull out the temp sensor. Carefully! The temp sensor is very fragile and sticks out past the plastic.
I cleaned mine with a tooth pick.
Carefully put it back, slide the ECC unit back in, done.

Klaus
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1995 854T and 1998 V70R