I was afraid of that. Ah well!
Cleaning AC System and Evaporator
- Thread starter elmariachi
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I was afraid of that. Ah well!
If you use your AC its worth the effort! There are some good writeups on the forum on how to pull the evaporator for cleaning (or replacement). Throw in a new expansion valve for good measure and have a local shop recharge the system (or DIY like I did), you'll have ice cold AC.
CloudCity
LuxCruisers
I'm getting ready to do this soon, I see the drain location on the firewall you mention but there is another beneath the vehicle, and I see most tutorials explain to spray into this bottom drain line. It definitely seems better to spray in from the upper drain as you did so it washes down over everything we want to clean, but do these two drains come from the same area? What I'm getting at is should we use both to fully clean the evaporator or is that redundant?
If you really want to clean the evaporator I'd recommend pulling it out. If its never been pulled I wager its full of crap and trying to spray clean from the drain tube will be an effort of frustration.
When I pulled mine it was full of leaves, pine needles, gunk, you name it.... Also a good opportunity to pull the blower and clean it as well.
CloudCity
LuxCruisers
I’m not having any issues besides a slightly musty smell so didn’t want to go that deep into it as I’d have to discharge the AC to remove it, correct? Thought I might wait until it needed work before I did that. Can I reach in and clean out the gunk by hand with it in place? Yes removed my blower already to clean and have ordered a new one as mine was worn and getting squeaky. Cleaning it didn’t help.
@CloudCity
I've had luck cleaning my evaporator core without removing the box from the truck but an important factor was that I've got the carpet out and was able to park with the passenger side low, pull the floor drain plugs and get after it without worry about getting the floors wet. Read on to learn what I did and you may agree with FlintKnapper that it's better to pull the core out.
I started by pulling the blower motor and fan which was squeaking thanks to a plastic bag living in it. Then, through the opening into the side of the box I used a borescope to see what it looked like inside (lots of leaves). I then removed most of the large chunks while everything was dry, first by hand then with a plastic tool that fit well and was safe for the evaporator. Next up I used a shop vac that I had stepped the hose size down on to be able to reach all around inside the box (duct tape and an appropriate length of old water hose worked well). After the loose debris was pretty much out I started with copious water flushes and repeated AC core cleaner spray applications. You want to get the big stuff out first so that you don't just push it into the core and clog things up. The core cleaner breaks up the remaining residual pretty well and the water flushes put a lot of water through the core if you spray all around inside. I probably did 4 or 5 core cleaner soaks for extended periods followed by hose flushes which was pretty easy and only took a few minutes each time I did this. Water flowed well out of the normal drain but also lots came back out onto the floor since I was spraying so much around in the box. I actually tried to get lots of water back out the inlet port that I was working through so that chunks were less likely to lodge in the core. The end result was a clean looking (per the borescope at least), smelling and functioning core.
This seems like it was easier than removing everything and recharging the system, but possibly not by enough to justify doing it this way if you are going to soak your carpets etc. I'm also not sure if I risked breaking things with so much water in the box but can say that the AC system/truck suffered no ill effects that I've found and the AC worked great all Summer without the stink. I went this route because one thing led to another as I was trying to fix circulation problems and stink. I will still pull the box one day for full inspection, parts replacement and the chance to recharge the system, etc. but this allowed me to have good AC while I worked on other more pressing issues with the truck.
I've had luck cleaning my evaporator core without removing the box from the truck but an important factor was that I've got the carpet out and was able to park with the passenger side low, pull the floor drain plugs and get after it without worry about getting the floors wet. Read on to learn what I did and you may agree with FlintKnapper that it's better to pull the core out.
I started by pulling the blower motor and fan which was squeaking thanks to a plastic bag living in it. Then, through the opening into the side of the box I used a borescope to see what it looked like inside (lots of leaves). I then removed most of the large chunks while everything was dry, first by hand then with a plastic tool that fit well and was safe for the evaporator. Next up I used a shop vac that I had stepped the hose size down on to be able to reach all around inside the box (duct tape and an appropriate length of old water hose worked well). After the loose debris was pretty much out I started with copious water flushes and repeated AC core cleaner spray applications. You want to get the big stuff out first so that you don't just push it into the core and clog things up. The core cleaner breaks up the remaining residual pretty well and the water flushes put a lot of water through the core if you spray all around inside. I probably did 4 or 5 core cleaner soaks for extended periods followed by hose flushes which was pretty easy and only took a few minutes each time I did this. Water flowed well out of the normal drain but also lots came back out onto the floor since I was spraying so much around in the box. I actually tried to get lots of water back out the inlet port that I was working through so that chunks were less likely to lodge in the core. The end result was a clean looking (per the borescope at least), smelling and functioning core.
This seems like it was easier than removing everything and recharging the system, but possibly not by enough to justify doing it this way if you are going to soak your carpets etc. I'm also not sure if I risked breaking things with so much water in the box but can say that the AC system/truck suffered no ill effects that I've found and the AC worked great all Summer without the stink. I went this route because one thing led to another as I was trying to fix circulation problems and stink. I will still pull the box one day for full inspection, parts replacement and the chance to recharge the system, etc. but this allowed me to have good AC while I worked on other more pressing issues with the truck.
CloudCity
LuxCruisers
I rather think this is the approach I will take but will try it with less water and use hands and a vacuum as you suggest. I take it you don't have the cabin filters? I also ordered the gasket (cooler packing) that goes on the door and some new filters so when I do all this I can have a nice clean and sealed box. I would still rather not fully disconnect until I need to do some work on the AC but only because this thing has the best AC I've ever experienced in a vehicle I've owned so don't want to risk messing that up.
@CloudCity
"Cabin filters" ?? more info on that please. As far as I know none of the 80s had factory cabin filters and I've not seen an easy to retrofit option out there yet. If you have one you need to share photos and info.
Snoop around with a borescope if you can (they are like $20 for a usb one on amazon) as there isn't going to be a way to tell how clean things are near the back (passenger side) of the box otherwise. As long as the debris is organic you should be able to get things pretty clean with core cleaner and repeated flushing/cleaning.
Good luck with it,
"Cabin filters" ?? more info on that please. As far as I know none of the 80s had factory cabin filters and I've not seen an easy to retrofit option out there yet. If you have one you need to share photos and info.
Snoop around with a borescope if you can (they are like $20 for a usb one on amazon) as there isn't going to be a way to tell how clean things are near the back (passenger side) of the box otherwise. As long as the debris is organic you should be able to get things pretty clean with core cleaner and repeated flushing/cleaning.
Good luck with it,
CloudCity
LuxCruisers
Well holy hell... apparently I did a search on this topic not realizing this was the 80-series board; I have a 100-series (LX 470 specifically) and on those the Toyota often doesn't have the cabin filters but the LX does, so my apologies for the confusion, and further, for the misdirection by landing here in the first place. Man I wonder how much of what we've been talking about still applies? The general theory does certainly so I absolutely appreciate your help. I still day dream about an 80 so hopefully one day you will see me back here with VALID questions. lol I'm calling it a night.
@CloudCity
No problem and core cleaning still applies I'm sure, probably including using a borescope, vacuum and cleaning spray etc. Hopefully it's even easier to do all of that on a 100 than on an 80 though. You probably have two cores to deal with though so good luck on that
I almost picked up a 470 and if I can ever justify it will get one as a second ride (trying to talk my wife into it but she loves her Subaru) and I think most of us here agree that the 80 and 100 are two of the finest rides ever produced.
Have a good night,
No problem and core cleaning still applies I'm sure, probably including using a borescope, vacuum and cleaning spray etc. Hopefully it's even easier to do all of that on a 100 than on an 80 though. You probably have two cores to deal with though so good luck on that
I almost picked up a 470 and if I can ever justify it will get one as a second ride (trying to talk my wife into it but she loves her Subaru) and I think most of us here agree that the 80 and 100 are two of the finest rides ever produced.
Have a good night,
can't tell you how many times I've almost done that!
Cabin filters (if they have always been in place) are quite the 'game changer'. They do a good job keeping larger debris from making it into the bowels of an evaporator housing. At worst...you would have some dust/pollen and other small (rinse-able) matter in there,..... which makes it a good candidate for a flush.
Just did this on my 1996 and it smells clean as a whistle. I also had to address the air conditioning drain issue highlighted in this post.
www.landcruiserclub.net
HDJ80 Evaporator AC Drain clogged I think? Passeger foot area very wet?
Hello there, from my research I need to find the Evaporator Core drain hose and check it/clean it? Nothing in my Haynes manual - can anyone lead me to the way to do this?
www.landcruiserclub.net
