how to clean evaporator without removing it, accessing via passenger foot space?

[rosyjo11]

Hi,
I know in my old Falcon I could get to a small area of my aircon evaporator to manually clean it, by removing a piece under the glovebox.

I have taken my VT into an aircon place in the past where they've charged $75 to do a similar thing. It needs doing again, badly. Can anyone tell me what I need to remove and where to look to gain access to it? I know it will be a fiddly space that opens up with poor accessibility but as long as I can get to some part of it to clean it I'll be happy.

At the moment fan speed 4 barely has the air touching my face.

cheers,
Jo

 

[don0xer]

unless you drive on really dusty/dirty roads you shouldnt really need to clean the coil, but if you have that much air loss id be pointing a finger to an duct leak, if it has been done on the car before maybe they didnt put it back together

 

[rosyjo11]

unless you drive on really dusty/dirty roads you shouldnt really need to clean the coil, but if you have that much air loss id be pointing a finger to an duct leak, if it has been done on the car before maybe they didnt put it back together

Well the car is 13yr old but you might still have a point about a duct leak. Initially after it was done I noticed a great improvement in the airflow but that was well over a year ago. However not long after it was done a black box with leads attached dropped down in the passenger foot space. I jsut tucked it up where it wouldnt keep falling down. I didnt notice a drop in the air pressure associated with it though which is why I wasnt really concerned.

They only did a quick fix job - the same thing I want to do here - which is why it only cost me $75. I am trying to avoid paying $1700 to get someone to replace the evaporator.

 

[don0xer]

well rather than spending teh $1700 you could buy one of those 10mm cameras they sell from repco atm i think they were about $100 with a 2" screen on it and stick it down the duct to see if there are any cracks/missing parts and even get right up to the evap coil. i think i know what you mean about that panel that fell down in the footwell. it shouldnt make that much difference.

also try the fan on different modes face/floor/demist and see where the greatest air loss is. if it blows a hurricane out floor and demist, but only trickles out on face theres your starting point for damaged ductwork.

 

[wrx884]

r u talkin bout cleaning the HVAC box or the evaporator core itself? 2 clean that manually ud need 2 take the evaporator unit out of the HVAC box as its enclosed inside that. so not sure how they would have cleaned that with out removing ur entire dash. ive done my heater core myself and got the evap unit cleanned and theres no way 2 get 2 it. i do have pics in my ride thread of the HVAC box on page 6 if y wanna see 4 urself.

could just b a resistor replacement job if uve pretty much lost fan speed 4?

 

[Old Timer]

You could try cleaning the filter in front of the passengers side windscreen. Remove wiper arms, remove plastic panels between back of bonnet and bottom of windscreen. You cannot miss the filter on the passenger side. If this is even partially blocked it will seriously affect the amount of air getting into the heater/aircon system. If this works it's a simple fix, if it doesn't you've only spent a few minutes of your time but spent NO money.
It worked for me.

 

[rosyjo11]

thanks for that last tip, I"ll try that tomorrow!

Otherwise I have a backyard fellow (experienced) who is happy to do the job for $300 cash and is sourcing a $35 evaporator from the wreckers in case mine is beyond cleaning, aka collapsed.

fingers crossed

 

[aveugotone]

hope he can regass it then lol, and properly or ur asking for problems...

 

[wrx884]

thanks for that last tip, I"ll try that tomorrow!

Otherwise I have a backyard fellow (experienced) who is happy to do the job for $300 cash and is sourcing a $35 evaporator from the wreckers in case mine is beyond cleaning, aka collapsed.

fingers crossed

ud b better off buying a new evap core since u may not know how long the wreckers 1 will last. but i supposed if ur mate is happy doing it 2wc 4 that price ud still b in front lol.