I am picking up a 96' 850 Wagon from a co-worker for $900. Car is in great shape other than I need to replace the front rotors/pads. He did mention a mechanic looked at the AC and said something in the dash was the issue, about $1500 to fix. What could it possibly be, I'm assuming that's mostly labor since the dash can be intensive to remove? I guess I will no more when I inspect the car, would like an idea where to look for this issue.

To get some idea of how complex this repair is go to the "Volvospeed" site and search in "Bay 13".

good info. Looks like it will be a bitch to do. Rebuilding my moto now, so maybe at summers end.

Do a search for evaporator replacment. That's 10 hours, book time, to R&R. Not a fun job. But, if you do it, it is a good time to replace the dash clips.

If the leak is slow, like 2-3 weeks, you might want to try a 3oz can of stop leak at NAPA. May or may not work. It hardens when exposed to air, so if you expect to replace the evaporator anyway, it might get into the compressor and mess things up once you take off the AC lines.

Klaus
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Always willing to listen, just not able to take direction.

My co-worker said the mechanic replaced the refrigerant and it leaked out over night, so it's a major leak. So you suspect the evaporator?

It is a known failure with the 850s. The other suspect is the receiver/drier bottle which can develop holes, the bottle gets replaced anyway when the evap is replaced. A dye test can determine where the leak is if it is in the engine compartment, too hard to see through the inspection hole for the evap.

Klaus
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Always willing to listen, just not able to take direction.