A/C system - how to remove the cooling unit, evaporator, expansion valve (4 Viewers)
- Thread starter alia176
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
alia176
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #122
Yeah, I'm not trying to hijack with a troubleshooting issue. I have some bearing like noise from the compressor now when the A/C is on and am ready to replace the bearing but the more I read, the more I may just replace the evaporator, compressor, expansion valve, drier, maybe condenser with new. I've baselined the rest of the truck, why not hit the A/C now that it's 120 outside?
Yea, now's the perfect time to do A/C work, NOT!! Dude, that's too freaking hot outside. Replacing the bearing is rather easy so go ahead and get that done if you can.
Lol. It was stupid hot. Cleaned the evap with foaming cleaner and the condenser with a hose. Bearing replacement went smoothly. All noise gone, sent it to CBT for evac and recharge, found a leaky Schrader valve too the will replace. Hope this fixes it before I revamp the entire system next year.
Last edited:
The instructions on page 1 were pretty darned good. My 94 (OBD1) needed the Engine ECU on its bracket pulled to get access to the top bolts. My son had the refrigerant recovered yesterday. Total time for me was about 2 1/2 hours at a leisurely pace to replace the evaporator, expansion valve, and receiver dryer. My son's an HVAC tech student, so he and his instructor will be evacuating (again), using a nitrogen purge and then recharging the system with fresh R-134 as well as new PAG oil. I plan on going from low 60s to somewhere in the mid 40s. The evaporator was just plain nasty with what looked like dog hair and various scum around the corners. Someone has been inside the system before, given the neat cut on the gasket and the green dye leaking out when I pulled the lines.
TrickyT
Hate that mud...
A few months late with the answer I'm afraid, but Toyota P/N 88471-34010 is a type R134a dryer from a 4Runner that @cruiserdan turned me on to years ago that works very well with after market bumpers. It is 1" shorter than the OEM dryer and you can gently bend the hard lines to get another 3/4" of clearance. You'll need to modify the bracket that holds the dryer too, but here's the result with my Slee Shortbus bumper:
As you can see, it barely hangs below the bumper now.
And here's the modified bracket with 1.75" of material removed from the middle and the remaining halves welded back together:
Tom........
Your bumper could use a little touch-up paint.....
Your bumper could use a little touch-up paint.....
TrickyT
Hate that mud...
Yeah, I play pretty hard with my toys. That shortbus has held up well though.
TrickyT
Hate that mud...
Wanted to add a post with additional tech content and don't think this has been mentioned in Ali's otherwise excellent A/C system "how-to" thread. Although some of this info can be found in other A/C threads, it's good to include it here too.
If you want to source all the o-rings you'll ever need for the FZJ80 A/C system, then you want the Santech MT2580 o-ring kit. For ~$10 you get 35+ metric o-rings that handle all of the FZJ80 A/C components. (I got this info from a thread that @1972FJ55 posted, so credit really needs go to him.) Although the packaging says "Made in China," the quality seems to be quite good. Also, as noted in other threads, do not use PAG compressor oil to lubricate these o-rings as it makes the rubber sticky. Several years ago when I was rebuilding the fuel injectors for my FJ62 I bought a tube of Dow Corning Molykote 55 and have used it ever since for all o-rings, including the A/C system. A tube or 1/4 oz jar of this stuff will last you a lifetime! Mineral oil is reported to also work well for the o-rings in the A/C system.
If you want to source all the o-rings you'll ever need for the FZJ80 A/C system, then you want the Santech MT2580 o-ring kit. For ~$10 you get 35+ metric o-rings that handle all of the FZJ80 A/C components. (I got this info from a thread that @1972FJ55 posted, so credit really needs go to him.) Although the packaging says "Made in China," the quality seems to be quite good. Also, as noted in other threads, do not use PAG compressor oil to lubricate these o-rings as it makes the rubber sticky. Several years ago when I was rebuilding the fuel injectors for my FJ62 I bought a tube of Dow Corning Molykote 55 and have used it ever since for all o-rings, including the A/C system. A tube or 1/4 oz jar of this stuff will last you a lifetime! Mineral oil is reported to also work well for the o-rings in the A/C system.
Why does the expansion valve need replacing? My system sprung a leak so I am cleaning the evaporator while its discharged. Should the expansion valve be done as PM while I'm in there? AC worked fine before the leak. R12 if that makes any difference
I need to swap my evaporator. Fortunately, I have 6 suicide cans of R-12, so I can keep mine as designed.
Hey everyone,
I pulled my evaporator out and it was filthy - completely covered in bold and who knows what else. I ended up buying a new unit and a new expansion valve to replace for a few hundred bucks.
The other crappy part is that the inside of the containing plastic black box had a bunch of mold on the walls and really all over the place. I spent about an hour scrubbing one of the halves to get rid of the hardened green spots and got it fairly clean.
The issue is that due to the age of the surrounding foam pieces and introducing water/cleaning agents, the foam around the enclosure has deteriorated pretty badly. Some of it came unglued altogether. So it's still attached, but in pretty bad shape.
There is no way to buy replacement foam pieces separately from Toyota. And they will not sell just the plastic box alone - you have to buy a complete/full setup that includes the box, foam, evaporator, electronics, etc - for a whopping cost of $1500.
Any thoughts on what I could do to either salvage or replace the foam?
Thanks in advance for any input.
I pulled my evaporator out and it was filthy - completely covered in bold and who knows what else. I ended up buying a new unit and a new expansion valve to replace for a few hundred bucks.
The other crappy part is that the inside of the containing plastic black box had a bunch of mold on the walls and really all over the place. I spent about an hour scrubbing one of the halves to get rid of the hardened green spots and got it fairly clean.
The issue is that due to the age of the surrounding foam pieces and introducing water/cleaning agents, the foam around the enclosure has deteriorated pretty badly. Some of it came unglued altogether. So it's still attached, but in pretty bad shape.
There is no way to buy replacement foam pieces separately from Toyota. And they will not sell just the plastic box alone - you have to buy a complete/full setup that includes the box, foam, evaporator, electronics, etc - for a whopping cost of $1500.
Any thoughts on what I could do to either salvage or replace the foam?
Thanks in advance for any input.
I would try that peel-n-stick foam from the box hardware stores. It comes in varying width, density and thickness. Seems like a good candidate, and I thought I read elsewhere of someone else using it in this same application.
I know that's so vague its not super helpful, but that's where I would start.
I know that's so vague its not super helpful, but that's where I would start.
Thanks - which section in a Home Depot do you look for stuff like this? Plumbing? Sorry but the people at my local HD are super unhelpful.
ppc
M Go Blue
Look for foam weather strip in the hardware, doors and windows or HVAC departments. There are 100+ items on a search on Home Depot website.
To the OP or anyone else who has done this mod.
I finished the cleaning and reassembly process. The inside of the box had hardened mold spots that I had to scrub with a sponge/mold solvent solution and then shave off with a dremel and a brush wheel. Thanks for the tip on the home depot foam, got some from the doors/windows department and it worked pretty well.
But when I went to reinstall, I am not seeing any connector that I can reattach to the plug on top of the unit - see pictured. There are three open connectors (two white ones on top, and a black one that goes into some sort of a sensor on the side of box). There are no open connectors that would plug into the one on top of the unit.
Any help here please?? I've spent an hour looking for it and not seeing anything - completely stuck!
I finished the cleaning and reassembly process. The inside of the box had hardened mold spots that I had to scrub with a sponge/mold solvent solution and then shave off with a dremel and a brush wheel. Thanks for the tip on the home depot foam, got some from the doors/windows department and it worked pretty well.
But when I went to reinstall, I am not seeing any connector that I can reattach to the plug on top of the unit - see pictured. There are three open connectors (two white ones on top, and a black one that goes into some sort of a sensor on the side of box). There are no open connectors that would plug into the one on top of the unit.
Any help here please?? I've spent an hour looking for it and not seeing anything - completely stuck!
Bump... need to reinstall this thing tonight and hoping someone knows!
It's been TOO long since I did this on my old 80, but looking through the thread and these pics, it looks like the OP had two relays in that spot. Looks like you only have one there?
Wish I could offer a definitive answer...
Thanks, I see what you mean on the photo. There are no additional wires for another relay on mine, maybe it’s a year model difference (mine is a 96). Guess I’ll reinstall without it since there are no other connectors to plug it into.
Also for anyone doing this in the future, here is the sticky foam that I used to replace the old original soggy foam pieces.
Got these at Home Depot in the door/window isle, came out pretty good I think, definitely better than the sloppy/oily mess that was there before.
Also I think it's lame that Toyota doesn't sell any of these parts individually and you have to buy the entire setup for like $1500. It was NOT fun to get all of the mold spots off the plastic box housing, took 3 hours and countless dremel brush wheels. The foam liner inside the box (two pieces) were pretty nasty too and had mold on them as well, but fortunately I was able to use some mold cleaner and a brush to get those cleaned up and they didn't rip.
Got these at Home Depot in the door/window isle, came out pretty good I think, definitely better than the sloppy/oily mess that was there before.
Also I think it's lame that Toyota doesn't sell any of these parts individually and you have to buy the entire setup for like $1500. It was NOT fun to get all of the mold spots off the plastic box housing, took 3 hours and countless dremel brush wheels. The foam liner inside the box (two pieces) were pretty nasty too and had mold on them as well, but fortunately I was able to use some mold cleaner and a brush to get those cleaned up and they didn't rip.
