evaporator

[2reattas]

I know this has been discussed before about the lack of air flow form the vents, finally took the plunge and pulled mine out and all i could say is wow!

[Guest jcc3inc]

Sir,

Do you know if there is an easy way to get at the evap without taking it out??

Thanks

Jack C.

[waltmail]

I know this has been discussed before about the lack of air flow form the vents, finally took the plunge and pulled mine out and all i could say is wow!

Euuuuwwwww. That is nasty. What will you do now? New one or clean it? How difficult is it to get to and remove?

[harry yarnell]

Removing the evaporator from an E body is a ball buster. I've done it, and not sure I want to do another. If all that fuzz has ANY oil on it, replace it.

These have a habit of leaking...

[Vincent Vega]

Harry is absolutely right. This is not a fun job. Minimum 6 hr job. Part of what you see may be broken down open cell foam. It does look oily. Get a new one. I bought one from ac-kits .com. Good price. If you are this far into it you should replace all the o-rings and orifice. Good luck.

[Barney Eaton]

I have explained how I cleaned mine before. But will do it again now that you see what happens. Also note that new cars now have a "cabin filter" the filter catches that crap and can be changed.

I am posting a sketch also...... Remove the blower motor control module. It is located on the engine side of the ductwork, I will also post a picture of its location.

This in to a big hole to work in but with some light inside so you can see it is not too bad.

* the light, I have a 7watt bulb that was part of Christmas decorations with a 4-5 ft AC cord

this light bulb is small enough to get into small spaces and give you light. Feet that into the hole or some other small light source.

* Make an adaptor for your shop vac...... see sketch, I used 1/2 vinyl tubing because of the flexability with a 90 degree fitting on the end (I used a copper tubing 90) then you must

use whatever you have to adapt the 1/2 tubing to the shop vac.

Now patiently manuver the vacumn adaptor over the evaporator to remove the crud. It will sometimes come off in big chunks and clog the end...so you must pull it out and remove the plug. Hard to say how long it will take, probably will take you longer to make the vacumn adaptor than to do the job.

[atikovi]

I know this has been discussed before about the lack of air flow form the vents, finally took the plunge and pulled mine out and all i could say is wow!

That's not as bad my '05 Smart. Before/after:

At least it can be cleaned in the car.

[2reattas]

had a couple days hiatus, doesnt seem oily but could be dried by now, i have one from a parts car that i replaced it with, is not a fun job, a/c hasnt worked since before i bought it, they bypassed the compressor with smaller belt, probably finish it up tomorrow, have the plastic cover back on but cant seem to get the bottom all the way back to the firewall, think it is the drain tube but will get a mirror down there to see. got my hand in the blower hole a couple of years ago with a eyeglass screwdriver and cleaned some of the fins but not much room and didnt seem to help. Barney's idea is a good one if the crud is loose. that 05 is definately worse!

[2reattas]

have thought about the o rings seals, want to get the a/c working again, main concern for the moment is getting it done before it get any colder outside.

[Vincent Vega]

I got sucked into the same trap. "just needs a little freon" turned into replacing everything as it had not run in a few years. I do mean everything.

Started with Accum. Leak detected in evap.

Replaced evap and cleaned all hard lines, replaced orifice and o-rings. Leaks detected at compressor

New compressor seals. good to go...... for a while. Compressor still leaking

Replaced compressor. good to go.........lasted two months. Leak at condensor

Replaced condensor. Been over a year.

I do get the low a/c error when the temp is in mid 60's. Switch to econ mode eliminates that.

A real wallet ripper. Good luck.