Volvo 480 Club Europe

I could have pushed my car to a cliff this week.

Through the winter I have spent about 700 euros renewing all my air conditioning system. New compressor in september. Had fitted a new dryer filter from a Ford Focus with a complete renewal of all tubes from the radiator and upwards.
The system was working good until a couple of weeks aog whe my wife had to call for asistance on the road as the AC compressor started throwing up white smoke. The compressor was still in warranty so It is now being replaced, but the aircon guys say the've never seen a compressor piston rod melt like this. They argue it must be due to continuous system overpressure. I argue the the system has a overpressure switch that disconects the compressor when it reaches a certain pressure and that this is nothing but a faulty compressor. They will replace it no matter what the reason has been.




Later this week I was talking with this AC specialist who said to me that all conversions from R12 gas systems to R134a are doomed to fail due to the different tubes caliper of R12 vs R134a systems. But again I'm not sure that my car was a R12 system. It's a midst june 1991 turbo (chasis 566555). According to the partsbook my fitted compressor part is 3450073 (3416338) wich is a R12 compressor. But when I search my compressor in Oscaro, Autodata and other databases it allways points to a Sanden SV7V16 wich is a R134a gas compressor. They are both two level pulley compressors, one 120 mm level with 6 grooves and a bigger 130 mm pulley with 3 grooves. I don't know if my car was fitted with a R12 or a R134 compressor when i bought it two years ago as the compressor had no sitcker on it....

https://www.recambioverde.es/compresor- ... 94101.html
https://www.recambioverde.es/compresor- ... 90520.html

Wich reference of compressor do you think my car had? Would you keep putting money in this bottomless hole?

There have been numerous changes in the A/C system throughout the production of the 480. You should never rely on online "parts databases" because they contain huge errors. Only the Volvo parts book (see the download section of this website) and those from Volvo parts suppliers like Skandix are more or less accurate.

I have a 95 volvo 480 that i am breaking and will shortly be sending to the scrapyard in the sky and it has air con do you need anything from it ?

remember anything over 2kg is far more expensive to send.

I never heard any problem with conversion from R12 to R134 except the plugs are different and that it is advised to change the o-ring because it is possible that they don't keep the gas for a long time.
The other problem is that R12 freeze better.
My old saab C900 has the conversion from R12 to R134 without changing o-rings and it continues to work normally.

It is necessary to put oil every time they fill the gas.
When they make the vacumm for checking and remover the old gas, also a part of the oil goes out.

Yes I'm aware of all the changes in AC system through the years of production. I'm quite sure mine was a R12 compressor/system.

I'm inclined towards thinking this has been just another faulty compressor. I'll come back for help if I experience any more problems after I get the new compressor.

Good to know you had no issues converting your Saab R12 to R134 Baxter. I'll give you a call someday if I don't make progress on this matter. Summer is coming on Valencia and my car is black

Sorry to drag an old (and possibly long resolved) thread back, but was doing a little research on this.

Turns out the A/C Compressors are a Sanden SD-709, which is available in both R12 and R134a. They even have a document for how to swap to R134a which you can find here.

The later R134a model is also used in the Renault line (19, Megane etc) so Compressors shouldn't be too hard to find.