AC Issue – Possible Evaporator core

[crazywolf Participant]

So I’m going to summarize as best I can. I bought the FJ a little over 2 years ago and for some reason it had zero refrigerant. So I had my mechanic test for leaks and fill it up and everything was fine. Fast forward a little over a year and it’s not working so great so I have him test it again and he add’s dye and 3 months later (a few weeks ago) it’s not working again so back it goes. He can’t find the leak and he feeling is it’s in the Evap core and he says it’s a serious ($1k) repair because it’s buried in the dash.

So I start some Blue room research found a video of an FJ replacement and decide I need to confirm his diagnosis before having him rip my FJ apart. So I do some more digging and find out a sniffer is the best way to confirm where the leak is and since I just had him fill it again hoping to get 3 months or out of the summer heat before having to deal with it i bought a sniffer off Amazon. I crawled all around the FJ finding now leaks so I head back to the internet. Finding the suggestion that an Evap core leak can generally be sniffed out through the drain hose I try again and sadly it goes off consistently there and nowhere else I could find.

At this point I’m still hoping it holds out for the summer. However my wife is driving it for now with my kids so it has to be dealt with one way or another. It might be the end of my FJ if I can’t figure this out and get it fixed. I’m curious if anyone on here has dealt with this. I’m hoping it might be something else that is a bit easier to get to but my hope is pretty dim at his point.

 

Justin

[gearwrench Participant]

Justin unfortunately it sounds like an evaporator replacement is in your future. Do you smell an unusual smell from the vents? Use your sniffer at the vents, let your truck sit off for an hour or more then turn the key on with the fan on low and put the sniffer at the center vents and see if it goes off. I hope you’re wrong as the dash has to be removed to replace the evaporator.

[crazywolf Participant]

Thanks for the reply I was afraid you were going to confirm that. I don’t drive the FJ full time anymore but I did seem to smell something. I will do the other test you mentioned this weekend. I’m not looking forward to doing the work after watching this video.

 

[crazywolf Participant]

Ok so it looks like I will be replacing the evaporator. What else should I replace while I’m that deep in the dash? I already plan to rewire the speakers and add a sub-fuse panel and some other small items that will be easier after gutting the front half of the car.

[Doug Dobrynski Keymaster]

Hard to say. But I would say take lots of pictures.

[gearwrench Participant]

There really isn’t anything I would suggest. Maybe do the heater core as well since it’s in the heater box also and may be a pain in the @ss to change if needed. Adding things for future upgrades is wise since you will be able to make a cleaner install. If I think of anything else I’ll let you know.

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