I bought a used (former lease car) 98 V70 from Dalzell Brothers in Foxboro MA. Great dealer. The car was "cherry", except for one problem which occurred the moment I drove it off the lot, headed back home to Virginia. Depressing the A/C button would not activate the compressor every time ... no little green light, no cold air, nothing. Might take 1 or 31 tries to get it to activate. Went directly back to Dalzell, and they tried unsuccessfully to duplicate the problem for over an hour; you know the drill. They believed me because I demonstrated the problem to the salesman the moment I drove back onto the lot. Even plugged into the OBDII, b ut couldn't find any fault to fix. Anyway, I had a long drive ahead of me and had to leave. They told me to get it fixed in Virginia and send them the bill. (As I said, great dealer; I hope Vinnie is reading this)

When I took it to my family mechanic in Norfolk (Coastal Import Repair; I hope Matthew is reading this),they saw the problem and very quickly knew the cause. The control panel (Volvo part number 9171601), containing the A/C and RECIRC buttons has been a problem for that model. Apparently, the problems with this panel are well known as my local Volvo dealership had many of these panels in stock, an indication that they have been replacing them on a routine basis. This was indeed the problem, and the A/C has performed flawlessly since the replacement.

So, Daniel, advise your father make sure the A/C and RECIRC will activate each and every time he pushes the buttons. He should test it MANY times until he is satisfied it works. Ensure that any warranty will cover replacement should the problem appear after the sale. Even if he lives in a cold climate and won't use it very much, he will need it when he switches the ventilation control to "defrost", which will activate the A/C, regardless of the ambient temperature.

Good Luck