posted by  someone claiming to be P.Dwyer on Wed Dec 19 13:01 EAST 2001

 Just following this long, sad thread about the 850 A/C evap brouhaha; lots of right AND wrong, as is the
 case in many situations, automotive and otherwise. Having helped my mechanic do a few of them, I have
 seen, and heard from him, most of what the problems are. For one thing, the 740 A/C evaps are a snap to
 replace, not $1,000 (US). The cab forward'/transverse engine design severely limits accessibility, which
 necessitates removing the console, dashboard, steering wheel, etc. That means time, which means money.
 Also, from what I have seen, the replacement evaps 'appear' to be made by the same company as the
 original (bad) ones. Also, the lack of a cabin air filter in the first years of 850 production exacerbated the
 problem. At some point, the wily Swedes began not only installing cabin air/pollen filters in the later
 models, they ALSO (key point, methinks) began to make available a retrofit kit, including an adaptor, for
 the earlier models. To my way of thinking, this points to KNOWLEDGE on the part of VoVo that they
 KNEW there was a problem. WITHOUT the filter, leaf particles, dust, any other number of things that
 can drop into that confined, nearly-inaccessible space which leads to decreased efficiency on the part of
 the evap unit. In an industrial setting, with access to be able to spray 10K psi water over the fins WILL
 contribute to a unit's efficiency, implying that it adds to its longevity as well; it's just not a one-for-one
 comparison to THIS shituation. My indie mech says that the tannins and other acids that leach out of the
 debris that sits up against the evap actually corrodes the metal, eventually leading to most of the causes of
 them eventually leaking. (I don't know enough to say that he is right, but inevitably, upon seeing the
 removed unit, there is always a big wad of leaf/plant material detritus sitting on the fins, and apparent
 corrosion---I do NOT know if there are actually any holes in the metal.) All in all, it sounds like the
 bottom line is that VoVo MAY have rushed an unproven or poorly-tested 134-capable unit into
 production (through the manufacturing sub-contractor/supplier), but if the units hold up for 'X' miles/years,
 they have fulfilled their warranty. Perhaps not morally, but probably legally. That is life in the big city. The
 bottom line seems to be the sage who suggested voting with your feet, or with your checkbook, or
 however you want to put it: go to someone else. Personally, I have a very unglamorous older (it gets
 worse) diesel 740, and am happy as a pig in s**t. My 850 friends in Atlanta have so many sad songs to
 sing about their 850 that they,,,yes, bought a Japanese car and are v-e-r-y happy. If ya can't take the
 heat, get outta the kitchen. Sad, tough, not nice, but true. Ford will have a lot of catching up to do. But
 they know that there are a lotta fish in the sea, so prolly as many people who drop OUT of VoVodom
 will be replaced by starry-eyed newbies...and the beat goes on. Sorry to take up so much space. It's just
 food for thought.--PD.

      As for newer cars, they're problems became far worse after '98 on up with items other than just AC,
      some costlier like AWD problems and thus Volvo's since lost many a former owner to their competition.

      Ford's doing NOTHING to solve Volvos new car problems and I doubt they will until we see the Ford
      platform cars in a couple more years. All they're doing so far is just dumping more money into Volvo.