Welcome to Just Commodores, a site specifically designed for all people who share the same passion as yourself.

New Posts Contact us

Just Commodores Forum Community

It takes just a moment to join our fantastic community

Register

Replace evaporator

Lex

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2012
Messages
5,755
Reaction score
5,003
Points
113
Location
Geelong Victoria
Members Ride
VT Executive S1 V6 6 speed Auto Wagon
Who's done it?
I have nearly finished a vt.
Replaced the hvac (broken arm on one the doors). Replaced with one from the wreckers. Brought last June. Replaced the heater core, evaporator, condenser & compressor & the dryer.
Bought the parts over 6 months, plus l thought why l have everything out of the car, why not new carpet.

Got quoted to degas it & regas it, $60.00.Had it degassed last Monday. There was only 300 grams in it. The guy said when he last gassed it he had put in 800 grams. So l think its going to cost a lot more than $60.00.

Tuesday stripped it out. Left the old underfelt & carpet in & laid the new over the old.
Nearly finished putting back together today. Enough to drive it. Nice & quite. Heater works.
Tomorrow or Monday l'll put the new compressor, condensor & dryer in. Then have regassed.
Lot of work. I think its worth the effort.

Have looked at not abba fan post no 2 of this thread?
I haven't.
Good luck.
 

Fu Manchu

We’ll get together. Have a few laughs.
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Messages
17,590
Reaction score
22,105
Points
113
Location
WA.
Members Ride
VZ Crewman, VZ Cross 8, & ya mum.
Yes I have looked at it. I also have a factory manual but the VE manual is somewhat vague and links don't work so I have to scroll the entire thing to find what I'm after.
 

losh1971

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
22,385
Reaction score
22,002
Points
113
Location
North Tas
Members Ride
VE Series I SS Ute
Last time I removed one it took me close to 14hrs don't know if I would ever do it again. I need to replace the heater core, which in a VR Exec is less than 2hrs. Trouble is the parts are really exi and it's not something you want to do twice by risking used parts.
 

Fu Manchu

We’ll get together. Have a few laughs.
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Messages
17,590
Reaction score
22,105
Points
113
Location
WA.
Members Ride
VZ Crewman, VZ Cross 8, & ya mum.
Have all new parts. The heater core is fine, but best to replace with a new one because it’s not a job I’d want to do again.

The VE is really different to the VZ in that it’s really obvious how much more complex the car is.

I did this job in a VP which was really a straight forward job that I was able to nut out for myself as I went. Fairly but time consuming. That’s ok.

Today I’m going to get the crash pad out and then I’m hoping I can figure out the dash frame and looms from there.

Spent about 4hrs removing the center console and stereo etc. Top trims from the windscreen. Getting the headlight/light sensor did my head in until I worked out it unscrewed rather than clipped in.
 

Lex

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2012
Messages
5,755
Reaction score
5,003
Points
113
Location
Geelong Victoria
Members Ride
VT Executive S1 V6 6 speed Auto Wagon
Have all new parts. The heater core is fine, but best to replace with a new one because it’s not a job I’d want to do again.

The VE is really different to the VZ in that it’s really obvious how much more complex the car is.

I did this job in a VP which was really a straight forward job that I was able to nut out for myself as I went. Fairly but time consuming. That’s ok.

Today I’m going to get the crash pad out and then I’m hoping I can figure out the dash frame and looms from there.

Spent about 4hrs removing the center console and stereo etc. Top trims from the windscreen. Getting the headlight/light sensor did my head in until I worked out it unscrewed rather than clipped in.
Sounds like your well on on the way to getting the hvac out.
When reassembling, make sure the wiring is where it is suppose to be. You don't want to be going back to taking something back out, because you can't access a few wiring looms. This happened to me a few times. Otherwise the whole job would have been finished by now, & regassed.
 

Skylarking

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2018
Messages
9,993
Reaction score
10,322
Points
113
Age
123
Location
Downunder
Members Ride
Commodore Motorsport Edition
Out of curiosity, how is the evaporator diagnosed as being the part that needs to be replaced?

Or is it that the process followed is to replace all the easy bits and if that doesn’t fix the leak then the evaporator and associated bits embedded within the dash are the only bits left to change.
 

losh1971

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
22,385
Reaction score
22,002
Points
113
Location
North Tas
Members Ride
VE Series I SS Ute
You can use dye in the aircon system and check with a light in the drain tube. The other way they do it down here is with a gas sniffer.
 

Fu Manchu

We’ll get together. Have a few laughs.
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Messages
17,590
Reaction score
22,105
Points
113
Location
WA.
Members Ride
VZ Crewman, VZ Cross 8, & ya mum.
Out of curiosity, how is the evaporator diagnosed as being the part that needs to be replaced?

Or is it that the process followed is to replace all the easy bits and if that doesn’t fix the leak then the evaporator and associated bits embedded within the dash are the only bits left to change.
In our case it was through the above technique and had 3 different AC places diagnose it so we are sure.
 

Fu Manchu

We’ll get together. Have a few laughs.
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Messages
17,590
Reaction score
22,105
Points
113
Location
WA.
Members Ride
VZ Crewman, VZ Cross 8, & ya mum.
Im at the point now where I remove the instrument panel carrier. (The big frame). All the harness is attached and comes out with the wiring attached.

Does anyone know how to remove/undo the fuse panel and harness on the pssanger footwell?
The manuals don’t cover this. Factory manual shows how to detach the carrier, no info on the wiring though.

I am taking photos and making notes as I go so will do a how to on this because there is nothing on the net. Nothingggg!

Here’s a thread relating to it:
https://forums.justcommodores.com.au/threads/help-ve-dash-harness-removal.275739/
 

Fu Manchu

We’ll get together. Have a few laughs.
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Messages
17,590
Reaction score
22,105
Points
113
Location
WA.
Members Ride
VZ Crewman, VZ Cross 8, & ya mum.
I have disconnected the fuse panel and drivers side harnesses. Simple to do once I found out how. Took ages to to get to this point though.
 
Top