Ok. guys and gals, lets see if I am guilty. My wife complained enough about he air conditioning on our 88 240 so I decided to recharge it. I had R-12 hoses and had some freon. I had never charged this car before. However, the absence of cool air (yes switch was working) and the bubbles in the sight glass on the drier coupled with a tepid suction hose on the back of the compressor led me to believe that it was low. I hooked up the hose to the back of the compressor; to the outlet marked "S." It started drawing and getting cool. Then a loud bang. After quickly shutting the car down and going inside and changing shorts I came back out and located the problem. The hose going to the top of the condensor busted. My question is was this a problem of too much pressure? The way it sits in front of the raidiator I would not be surprised if it was nicked by road debris. Verdict please.
That said, I assume I will go R-134 now. For any that have converted, I am assuming I need to change the dryer and expansion valve and then get it evacuated. Any hints or ideas?

Get the Volvo retrokit; coincidentally, it has the very hose you popped, among other things.

Where do I get the Volvo retro kit (I have cheched some places online with no sucess. Secondly, what do they include in teh kit?

FCP Groton sells it- if you don't want to pay dealer list.

http://www.fcpgroton.com

9134808 Volvo Conversion Kit 75-90 Includes: Evaporator, ExpValve, Rec. Drier. a/c Hose, Oil, & all required seals and decals $210.00 Genuine Volvo

I think you'll save about $90 over the dealer price. Perhaps others have it as well, but since you've tried with no luck, this is one option. If everything else in yours is OK (compressor, condensor) then this and the R134 are all you need.
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Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: '86 244DL- 215K, 87 244DL- 230K, 88 744GLE- 198K, 91 244 180K

Why replace the evaporator? Off the top of my head it seems that it would be very hard to get it out without diassembling the firewall and dash.

Evaporator is not hard to replace, and when you get in there and see all th e leaves, pineneedles etc in there that are due to be cleaned out , you'll be glad that you did.