Until a week ago, my 960 Wagon had wonderfully glacial A/C thanks to the VOV installed last year. Although it has the ubiquitous opening-in-a-turn vents (which worked fairly well most of the time), the much colder air afforded by the VOV negated the need to get them fixed.

Suddenly, although the dash vents are dialed to 100% open, ALL the venting (at all positions - dash, floor, defrost) is 99% slammed shut. I can hear the blower working at all speeds but feel the slightest bit of cold air seep through - as though cracked open just a *wee* bit.

I attempted to run the ECC diagnostic in the 900 FAQs but no joy.

I had to take a 400 mile round-trip + then elsewhere attend an out-of-town funeral in 88+ degree weather with the damn windows down. I think I now have the equivalent of one+ acre of Ohio farmland accumulated inside my car...

I've already dumped $1800 into this POS (for various other problems) in the last two months... Can I fix this myself?

(Am cross-posting this to the 900 forum)
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Natalie - 1993 960 Wagon @149,000 miles

Before you disassemble everything, reach up through the air intake in side the passenger compartment under the dash and see if there's something stuck in there. I had a similar problem where a plastic grocery bag got sucked up in the intake.
It's a wonder that Volvo never put a screen over the intake. I have had a number of items sitting on the passenger floor that have gotten sucked up there I had to fish out.
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'89 245 Sportwagon, '96 960 sedan

This is certainly worth a try, although I would think that typically you'd hear it. When the intake sucked up a plastic bag in my V90, all I could think of new fan motor. Boy was I happy to pull that bag out. I'm not saying it's impossible w/o some noise, it's worth a look.
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John Shatzer, '97 V90 @ 105K

Start checking for vacuum leaks from the engine to the firewall, firewall to the reservoir (looks like 4 black plastic balls) mounted inside the car on the firewall, then check for leaks to the electronic control valve, then start pinching off the colored vacuum lines with a pair of pliers while the engine is running and see if you can get the various vents to move. You may have a serious vacuum leak. The vacuum bellows on these cars are notorious for going out. I have 2 bad ones on our 95. Their tough to R&R so I have pinched off the lines so that I have the vents operating all the time.

To gain access to the reservoir and the control valve manifold. Take out the glovebox and the passengers side underdash trim panel. Both very easy.

DEWFPO
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1998 S90 068,300 and 1995 964 152,300

Thanks - Sounds like something I can handle!
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Natalie - 1993 960 Wagon @149,000 miles

I dont know if your car has the same control model that is on my wifes car, which is a 97. On her car, the vents would close intermittantly because of the failure of the control module circuit board connection to the pins on the connector. I pulled the module out (to the right of the middle of the dash, not much to dissassemble) and resoldered the pins on the back of the circuit board which fixed the problem. I did consider the possiblility of a leak but that was ruled out. Lots of times, you will have the vents opening or closing depending on level of vaccuum which depends on the engine speed. It could be a mechanical vaccuum problem or it could be a control module that went south. Since it seems to have happened all of a sudden, I would lean more toward an electrical glitch which is not uncommon in Volvos. Good Luck.
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97 S90 with 171K miles still going strong