Volvo: Intermittent A/C, 98 Volvo S70, volvo s70 glt, volvo s70

Question
Hi Ray,

I have a 98 Volvo S70 GLT.  In the last couple of months, the A/C will work fine in the mornings, but soon starts to blow warm.  This is accompanied by a strange humid odor.  I can shut off the A/C manually for a couple of minutes and it will blow cold sometimes once I turn it back on.  What do you think? Evaporator?  If it was a leak in the system, I would think that it would not blow cold at all.  I have read that replacing the evaporator is costly ($1300) since the dash has to be removed.  How would you approach this problem and do you have any short term fixes?

Thanks

Answer
Patrick,
If at times it blows cold and when the outside temp goes up it get warmer. I would start with an evacuation and recharge. The system works very erratically when it is low on freon. There maybe a leak but that should get you going for now. See how long the cooling lasts.