A/C system - how to remove the cooling unit, evaporator, expansion valve (6 Viewers)

[retrofive]

Great write up and pics Thanks for taking the time!

 

[turbocat]

This is a great thread, very informative. I'm glad to see the whole dash does not have to be removed, unlike some other vehicles I have worked on.

 

[alia176]

Cool, glad it helped you out. Hopefully more and more folks will attempt this repair on their own and become more confident in working with the A/C systems!

 

[ardentyota]

I just did mine 2 weeks ago with this thread. $100 in parts and saved me $500 in labor. Thanks for the write-up!

Oh, and my A/C blows cold ALL the time now!

 

[richj11]

Yes, great thread. I haven't done any A/C work since my military days. This was a great refresher.

Just ordered myself the parts and equipment needed, gonna be a fun weekend!

 

[jlg32281]

some day i hope to follow in your footsteps

 

[alia176]

You can DO it....

 

[VanGo]

Alia-

Your write up helped me do a complete service/rebuild of the AC system in the rig, thanks for taking the time to post, so other may stay comfortable.

Van

 

[alia176]

Very cool, glad to hear all worked out.

 

[hzavarce]

I want to do this, but don't have the tools to recharge the system.

Do you think I can do the work and then take it to a A/C service shop and have them do the recharge ?

Thanks for all the info !

 

[VanGo]

hzavarce

My approach was this: Follow Alia176's write up on servicing an 80 series AC system, my personal choice was to replace all o-rings, schrader valves, condensor, expansion valve, and then pressure check the complete system once it was re-assembled @ 50psi, once I could confirm that there were no leaks, I released the air pressure and scheduled a shop visit for vac and re-charge. That was 2 mos ago and I still have 40* at the vents. Good luck.

Van

 

[hzavarce]

Nice VanGo ! that is exactly what I want to do, although I don't think I need to change as many parts as you did, but the approach will be the same.

How much they charged you for the vac and recharge ? I imagine that some shops are not going to want to do it, or other may charge and inflated rate. I am going to call local shops and find out

Thanks !

 

[akarilo]

Awesome thread! Just got through doing a new compressor and (shorter) dryer. If I have to end up doing an expansion valve in the future, this thread will prove invaluable.

Thanks again.

 

[wxm]

Thanks for the nice write-up with great details.

 

[packetstormin]

So I have embarked on this process myself. Things are a little different on a 94 but for the most part its fairly the same. I do have a quick question for everyone how does one clean there evap core? I googled this an a site said with warm soapy water and then let it dry out for a day. Does this seem reasonable?

 

[Rummat81]

Hi,
Do you want to clean the insides of the evaporator or outside, uif just the outside, then close the holes and use houehold appliance cleaners with water and dry out.
for insides, to get teh old oil/gunk out, i believe you have to use mineral spirits, let soak and blow out with compresses air.
hope that helps.

 

[richj11]

Well, I haven't gotten to the 91 FJ80 yet, but I did do my 92 Celica yesterday. Very similar systems on these two vehicles.

For those of you with pre-93 vehicles with R-12, the HP port is smaller than the LP port and you'll need an adapter for the standard R-12 hoses to fit.

FYI, I decided to go the Freeze 12 route rather than the 134 conversion. It is blowing nice and frosty now.

 

[Koffer]

Now that its been a few years hows the system holding up?.
I think my expansion valve is crapping out as my high side its too high and the site glass is a foaming mess look to it . Tried adding some R134 all that did was rise the high side up and letting some out just brought everything way down ,high and low
I got the P0401 code fixed after 3 years (had the parts for over 2 years but lost them in the black hole called my garage )now its time to work on this

106 with 90% humidly the other day and a dark blue truck = Time to figure this out now

 

[alia176]

funny you ask! https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/503254-c-vent-temp-too-warm-pics-inside.html

From what I'm being told, my vent temps are spot on and I should stop looking for things to nit pick!

 

[PoorHouse]

Another thank you to Alia176 for this write up.

I did some AC work this spring and your pics and write up were very helpful.

I ended up having to take the evaporator out twice when the new Denso expansion block failed. I can RR it in about 30 minutes now.