My wife's '99 V70 seems to take too long to cool off especially around town. I know it's hot now and her car is a black wagon with more volume to cool off, but it still seems to take too long to cool.

Weather was in the high 80s yesterday with high humidity. Driving home, it didn't seem to cool until we got on the by-pass. When we got home, I put the gauges on it. When the compressor was on, it held 60psi idling in the driveway. No cycling on and off, it just held steady. When I turned the compressor off, the pressure went up to 90.

What should I look for? Clutch gap? Other? What?

Thanks.

I took it to an indy who checked everything. He pulled the freon, measured it, and recharged the system. He said everything was good. He did advise turning the dial to blow at our faces when it is really hot. We took the car out of town for the weekend, the weather was better, and it worked like a champ.

I do remember a time last year when I had to turn it off occasionally then turn it back on to get it to cool.

Anyway, it's cooling now. Thanks to all. David

If I remember, you have ECC. The system should go into recirculate mode with high blower speed when you first turn the car on. Set the temp dials to 76F or 78F to be kind to the compressor. Leave the blower and vents on 'auto'.

When checking the system, look in the engine bay and feel the 2 coolant pipes where they enter the firewall. The top one should be sweating with cold, the return pipe should also get cold in about 4-5 minutes.

I had a habit of rolling down all the windows in my 98 black wagon, as well as popping up the sun roof, as soon as I could after engine start. Once I felt colder air coming from the vents, the windows closed and the SR came back down.

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My name is Klaus and I am a V ♂ lv ♂ holic

My car was built and picked up in Germany (I think) by a guy in the service and brought back to the US. The A/C controls are manual, on/off, recirc, rotary fan switch, and two (right/left) rotary temp controls. It has manual seats and no sunroof. (I never fully open the sunroof in my '88 535i, but I do like to pop the back of it up.) It does have power windows that I try to remember to open when I'm starting out in the heat.

I'll check to make sure the radiator fan is kicking in full when the A/C comes on.

I replaced the blower with an aftermarket model the vibrates and makes noise at high, so I rarely kick it up all the way.

You have the manual climate control. The recirc and AC lights will blink at startup if there is a fault in the system, and the blower speed is not set to off.

It is also possible that the clutch gap is too great and needs shimming, but that has nothing to do with the blower speed.

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My name is Klaus and I am a V ♂ lv ♂ holic

Is the recycle button "ON", or are you constantly pulling in hot humid outside air?

My thought exactly! If you aren't doing so already, run it with the recycle button on until the car begins to cool off.

Air conditioners are tested by comparing the temperature of the air going in to the temperature of the air coming out. I think that a difference of 40 degrees is good - I am not sure.

If it is 105 in your car, and the AC puts out 70 - that will not feel good, but might be proper.

My multimeter has a thermocouple that gets a reading in a few seconds - you could use two cheap thermometers.

What is the difference in your car?

I open the rear of my sunroof so that the hottest air can escape until the car cools off.
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'96 855R,'64 PV544 driver, '67 P1800 basket case, '95 855, '95 854, the first three are mine, heh, heh, 485,000 miles put on 9 bricks

Check the engine fan operation first. It should have been on high speed with the engine warm and the AC on. Your gas pressure readings are good.

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My name is Klaus and I am a V ♂ lv ♂ holic

Are you sure about those pressure readings?
I was just looking that up last night in preparation to recharge the A/C on our 850. This is a new procedure to me and the first time I've had to refill a car with R134a.

Anyway, from what I gathered (granted it was for an 850) the pressure should not exceed 40 psi.
How come the pressure of 90 psi is normal? Is it because it's a different model?

While 60psi is a bit high, it should be at least that if the engine fan is not running at high speed. 40 psi is optimal when everything is 'normal', but we are talking about a reasonably warm system which will push the pressure up.

I have seen my car over 300 psi after parking it and playing in the engine compartment a half hour later - without the engine running. I had fan relay problems so it wouldn't cool at slow speeds.
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My name is Klaus and I am a V ♂ lv ♂ holic