Anyone can give me an idea how much shops might charge to fix my A/C? I've been adding freon for the last 3 years. Usually just one can per season will do it. Now I've had trouble keeping it going for more than 2 weeks. The leak is a lot more now. I've tried stop leak stuff - yeah right it didn't do any good.

I'm pretty certain it might be the evaporator. I've read somewhere here that that is what typically goes on these trucks. They get rusted out and leak. I'm worried that someone will charge an arm and a leg to pull out something under the dashboard.

I would just like to have an idea of the rough cost so that when I go into the first shop I will know whether to turn and run, or to talk seriously with the shop boss.

 

Just had mine done at All Day All Night Auto in Leander for about $950. It was the compressor on mine. Compressor, seal kit liquid line and orfice tube was all changed out.

 

I'd do some research then change the parts myself & have someone that knows what they are doing finish it up. $900 is about what my needing paint old Mercedes SD would sell for.

Another forum said to NEVER use the stop leak because it doesn't work & will mess up the shop's machines.

So... do some research. FSM is at pdftown. Start there.

 

the dash has to come most of the way out to get the heater box open and thats where the evaporator is so i would guess its not going to be less than a grand said and done. There is a writeup on it somewhere here search "evaporator replacement" in the second gen forum

 

I did mine on a Saturday for $200 total (parts).

 

I did my 99 for about $300 myself. I got quotes for a shop doing it from $800 to $1200. What ever route you choose, go the extra and change the heater core. You'll have to go back in later if you don't.

 

That stop leak stuff is not cool. It is hard to flush out and plugs up the accumulator.

I had my system flushed, changed o tube, accumulator, and recharged.
$300

 

What I found that replacing the evaporator on a 2001(New dash design)...Is easier than when I did it on my 95(old dash design)...

 

I recommend a factory evap core over the store off brands unless you can find one not made in China. Make sure to change the dryer and heater core. Also, if your condenser is original, you might consider changing that. I did my evap core, then found out the condenser was partially clogged not to mention beat to hell and was preventing optimal cooling. After I changed that out, it worked like new. I can't remember all the sources I found my parts at, but I did tons of research. There was a local a/c distributor here in my town that had the silver non painted dryers which work so much better than those cheap crap ones that auto zone and rock auto sell. The black ones dont even fit in the clamp and caused the evap line to break from the stress of it hanging on the evap line.

 

My old 94 had a bad evap and I threw in 1 can of Super Seal. Worked perfect for 3 years and then I sold truck with A/C still blowing ice cold. I know alot of people bash it. But it cost me $30 for a can and fix it perfect

 

I got all my parts (evaporator, heater core, liquid line, drier) from Rock Auto - they all worked perfectly for me on my '01. The right up in the 2nd gen forum is spot on. Me and a buddy did all the work in about 6 hours taking our time. I also replaced my dash while I was in there because it was cracked badly too. A/C is running super cool now. You'll figure out why your evaporator is leaking when you get in there and see it.

 

Might be a good idea to throw in a tube of UV dye and see if you can figure for certain where the system is actually leaking down... could save a lot of aggrivation if its not the evap.

 

YEP! Go to Home Depot or equiv and buy a compact fluorescent Black Light Bulb after you squirt some UV dye in and run the A/C after dark. If the Evap is leaking, the condensate water will have a Curious Yellow/green glow to it!
If you park the vehicle in the exact same spot each afternoon, there will be a glowing spot on the concrete where the UV dye remains after the water evaporates.
Wife's old van has now developed an evap leak and that dye REALLY shows up in the condensate water. Not that big of a leak either...

That old van had me chasing my tail a year ago trying to find a leak. It was the HP hose from the compressor that was right behind the fans. No halogen detector could find it because of the air movement.. UV light confirmed the rubber hose was oozing tiny droplets of dye through the rubber ONLY when the comp was running and the hose was hot.

 

I always toss in tube of UV dye anytime I evacuate an A/C system... costs a buck or two but sure makes finding additional/future leaks much easier. Maybe just my luck but I've repaired a few systems only to find out I either missed a pinhole or created another one, refill the system with Nitrogen to check for leaks, or just pull a good strong vacuum and wait to be sure it's holding.

There are a few different types of UV Dye out there now, for a 2001 just make sure it's safe for R134a systems and you'll be golden.

 

I know this is a really old thread, but how are your RockAuto A/C parts holding up. I think I'm running into the same issue. Geno's has the evaporator listed for around $300 but seems Rock is much cheaper. However, I've learned the hard way on "cheap parts" before and don't want to go through that mess again. Anybody want to offer their opinion on this?