1998 V70 AC clicking sound

Have a 1998 V70 with less than 90K miles. Quite recently, the AC seems to
click in and out, cycling once every 5 seconds or so. The clicking sound can
be heard inside the car, and the clutch just to the left of the belts can be
seen to engage . [Or it could have been doing this for the previous eight
years and I just only noticed it these past few weeks?!]

Air from AC is cold. Although the idle speed flickers a little, there
doesn't seem to be any power loss.

any advice? I don't mind getting used to the clicking noise if this is not a
sign of a serious problem down the road.

 

It's a sign of low refrigerant. Top up and add refrigerant dye. Check
for leaks in a week or two.

Bob

 

If the clutch is cycling every five seconds then the air conditioning
sysem should be checked for proper charge level. Otherwise, it is
possible that one of the pressure sensing switches is bad... or it
could be something else.. :-/

__ __
Randy & \ \/ /alerie's
\__/olvos
'90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate
"Shelby" & "Kate"

 

As the others say, that is the classic indication of low refrigerant.

I'll diverge from their advice to specify that you should have a pro
evacuate and recharge the system. I always did my own with R12 and I was
arrogant enough to believe I could do it myself with R134a, in spite of what
the experts say. Boy, I can be dumb sometimes!

Mike

 

I did my own conversion to R134a a few years ago and have since done it on a
couple other cars, didn't really have any hangups, where'd you get stuck?

 

Putting in a measured amount after evacuating the system is the key, and the
part I didn't have worked out. I thought I could identify the roughly proper
charge by a combination of guage readings, vent temperature and clutch cycle
behavior. I was wrong. I don't know why I went right past the correct charge
without it working right whereas a pump-down and measured charge made it
work right. Maybe there were incondensables in the system? Also, my friend
with the refrigeration pump is
100 miles away :-(

Starting from scratch with an evacuated system and known amounts is probably
not so hard.

Mike

 

Hmm, the systems I've done have coincidentally required almost exactly 3
cans of refrigerant so that part hasn't been too hard, if that fails you can
use a postage scale to weigh in the charge.

As for the pump, I use a $5 surplus window A/C compressor from
www.usamfg.net to pump it down, it easily attains 29" Hg which is sufficient
and the price is hard to beat.