I had my a/c checked today and found out that i have a bad evap coil and the shop wants $1000 to fix it! I told the guy that i will just continue to roll my window down. Then i decided (what we all do best) to do it myself sine the parts for NAPA are only $125.

So do you really have to take the whole dash apart to get to the coil? I started to look at it to see if you can piece the dash apart easily. Thoughts and ideas...

 

You at least have to pull the passenger side dash back and tie it to the grab rail. How is your heater core? How often do you change coolant? I suggest at least measuring coolant for voltage &/or changing heater core. Add $100 for the core + coolant cost. Also change any worn hoses and seal any air flow leaks.

 

I did both, first my 1995 and a fellows 2001....I found the 2001 is way easier to pull the dash than my 1995...Its not that bad of a job....Just take your time and don't rush...Remember there are also about 4 nuts under the hood right behind the motor that you have to remove to pull the dash..I replaced both my evapoator and heater core...

 

I plan to do the heater core also. and at the same replce the top of the dash since it is cracked and has a nice sized hole in it...... never one small quick job is it?!?

 

The search function is your friend.
No need to pull the dash & if your like me and have a ton of accessories wired in it would be a night mare.
If your dash is cracked you want to replace that while in there.
https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...l-t183867.html
https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...d-t150808.html
https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...e-t165900.html

This is how you do the evap without pulling the dash.

 

I'm also pulling the dash for heater core and dash replacement. While I'm there, I'll re-seal any leaking air ducts, lube any moving parts, change hoses and see if steering column bearings can be replaced. (My column bearings feel rough.)

For kicks, measure coolant voltage by placing 1 probe in the radiator & the other to ground. Anything over .3 volts will cause electrolysis - so says tag on my new heater core.

 

How did they figure it was your evaporator coil?? I just dyed my system, and there looks to be noway to get at the coil to check it, aside from the short lines that disappear through the firewall. Seems that I have a slow leak at the low side charge port. Not sure if it can be fixed w/o changing out the whole line.

 

I had 2 shops tell me the evaporator core was leaking and but neither were very convincing with the description of their troubleshooting. Like esde, I found my low side port valve core was the source of my leak. Evacutated the system, swapped out a the core and refilled the system. Ice cold air for three weeks with no loss of cooling at all. I'm not saing your evaporator isn't bad, just be sure it is before you swap it.

 

Gearhead759, did you swap the whole line? Or were you able to remove the core the same way you can with a regular valve stem? I don't mind evacuating the system as I would like to replace the receiver/ dryer, but replacing the low side line to the compressor doesn't look like fun. As far as I can tell, the only way you would know the evaporator coil is bad is you either hear it leaking right after you add charge, or you see the dye mixed in with water leaking out of the condensate drain.

 

A local shop charged me 500$ in labor to do that job. Well worth the money, IMO. Its not a fun job and its easy to break the plastic tabs that hold the dash on.

 

Evaporator core is most likely in our our systems and you'll see why when you take it apart. The plastic housing that it and the heater core sits in collects every leaf and piece of debris then your evap core sits in it and rots! You can do a leak test and if you can't find the dye - most likely it is leaking from the evap core (only place left to leak from if you can't see it). Although one poster is correct - you should see dye from the condensate drain in the firewall if it is the evaporator. Don't let folks scare you, if you're handy with a screwdriver and have a friend to help, the job isn't that bad or scary. With the pics on here, a service manual, and a day - you'll be done. I over compensated and studied the service manual a lot - and once I got into it, found it was very straight forward.

 

I too have to change out the evaporator core in my truck now, so since I have never changed my coolant, should I go ahead and change out the heater core too just so I don't have to have it done all over this when it gets cold? So far I have not had any issues with the heater, but the AC worked fine untill it quit too. The dealer can just swap both out while they have it apart if it is worth it.