S80: General Pollen Filter Position

[Bernard46]

I have been trying to replace the pollen filter in my 2001 MY S80 RHD. I was doing this because I seem to have relatively little heat coming into the car even when the aircon and fans are on full. The temp guage reads normal and it had a new thermostat last year. Anyway, I'm wondering whether the previous filter was put in the wrong slot. The various instructions on the web and in this forum seem to say that the filter should be placed in the 'rearmost slot' - my interpretation of this would be the slot nearest to the rear of the car. However the filter I removed was in the other slot, i.e. the one nearest to the front of the car, but obviously the rearmost one as you look at it!

Can anyone give me a definative description of the slot that the filter should go in - is it the one nearest the engine or nearest the seats?

[Clan]

firstly is it the correct pollen filter ? Have you got air quality and Electronic climate control? if so then its the thick multi filter which goes in the slot towards the front of the car , if it is a basic heater with manual control it is the thin pollen filter and goes in the slot towards the rear of the car ...

[Bernard46]

Thanks, I have ECC so I have the correct filter, the thick carbon activated one according to the description on the box. I had thought that maybe if the filter was in the wrong slot it could have had something to do with the apparent lack of heat from the system, but I guess I'll have to look elsewhere for the solution to that problem. Many thanks.

[Clan]

Are you talking lack of temperature or lack of airflow ? Lack of heat could well be a faulty thermostat , is your temp gauge always in the normal mid position?

[Bernard46]

Lack of temperature, although the airflow is nothing to write home about even when I switch the fans to maximum, theres a lot of noise but not a great deal of heat, and not a great volume of air. I've always had the heater controls set to the vertical position, and the aircon set to fully automatic - can't remember what that temp number is right now, but even if I switch the heater controls to the red mark it does not seem to make a great deal of difference and I would have expected to be roasting then.

The engine seems to warm up as quickly as ever and the temp guage sits absolutely vertical, which it didn't do when the thermostat went. All this is something I've been aware of since its become colder, but I honestly couldn't say whether it suddenly started or its been creeping up on me for some time. However I have resorted to using the heated seats permanently to keep myself warm recently.

Of course I could be imagining it all and just loosing my grip on life in general!

[Clan]

It seems you need to check that all the flaps are moving and that the push buttons actualy open and close the relavent floor , face vent and screen demist vents and that the temperature controls work , cold on cold and warmer on hot .. each side is independant . try taking the pollen filter out in case it is blocked ...

[Bernard46]

I put a new pollen filter in so I don't think that is the problem. I tried all the controls and things certainly change as you push the various buttons, though whether they change as much as they should is another matter. The temperature of the air goes up as you turn the temp knob up, the volume of air seems to change as you push the various buttons in and out where the picture of the person is, however with the temp set at 22 and the outside temp showing 5 it does not seem reasonable to be getting fairly cool air in. There is a lot of noise from the fans as you turn the temp up - a lot more than sounds reasonable for the amount of air coming out. Also I seem to have a major problem with misting up all round when its raining, as it has been doing a lot round here recently. The only way I can get the windscreen to clear is by using the windscreen override button! Do you think the aircon could need a recharge?

[Clan]

try putting a thermometer in the car by the gear lever and set to knobs to 22 C and see if the temperature reaches somewhere near on a longish trip ( 30 mins or so ) The best test is compare it to another car , misted windows are due to damp in the car from clothing , water under the carpets OR Recirculation flap stuck on recirculate ..

[jamiefc]

I have similiar lack of sufficient airflow in relation to the fan speed - though my temperature works fine.

[Bernard46]

Hmm, interesting - I was going to take a closer look at the mechanism but I looked at the VADIS CD that I have and frightened myself to death with the complexity of the thing - it seems the ECC system is absolutely festooned with sensors and can give all sorts of codes about what is happening inside it. Obviously though, one is at the mercy of a Volvo main dealership to read these codes and then competently fix any problem - probably for a horrendous price.

If the weather gets a little bit better I may take the panels off again (like when I changed the pollen filter) and try and take a closer look at the thing, but I suspect I'll be wasting my time.