Evaporator replacement

My 2011 has around 80k miles and the evap core is leaking. Shop quoted around $1650 for 10 hours labor. I’ll be taking this on hopefully this weekend.

 

Do it!

$135 for a vacuum pump.

$65 for the new condenser

$15 for the receiver/dryer

$20 for R134A.

$70 for manifold gauges.

$300ish beats that quote all day long!

 

I think that the Condenser and receiver/dryer are one unit at least on the 2012 and after.... I know mine was. It also cost a heck more than 80 bucks. Of course I did go with OEM Parts.

He's talking about the evaporator coil anyway...

 

Shit didn't see that.

I've never seen an evaporator leak. Lots of condensers and shrader valves.

I hope they dye checked everything. it would suck to pull out the dash and evaporator was not the culprit.

 

Yah that better not be the case. The shop initially replaced a shrader valve and told me it was fixed. Now after I took it back, he's saying its the evaporator core. I'll see if I can scope it out and see for myself before getting started.

 

It would suck a lot!

 

Get a UV light and in a dark area look at the condensate drain. Remove the blower motor and you can really see up into the evap area.
If it is leaking you should be able to see the green dye

 

When mine started to leak, I smelled it in the cab and couldn't quite place the smell. Then, my A/C didn't work. I had it recharged, put dye in and I immediately had that same smell. The charge was only good for less than 24 hrs. Where mine was leaking, you couldn't see it. I had initially checked all the usual suspects, no problems found. I checked the drain, no sign of dye. The stealership said there was dye everywhere. I took a flexible camera, pulled out the blower motor, then stuffed the camera up in the case. Still couldn't see it. There was a bunch of leaves up in the case, but they looked oily. I stuffed the camera as far up in the case as I could get it, I still couldn't see anything. After getting some quotes and opinions from some friends/mechanics, I decided the evaporator was the only option. As you can see in the picture in the post, there was only a small amount of dye present.
There's a lot of work to doing it. It's easily done, if you have the time to do it. I highly recommend taking pictures of the cams on the control box. I took a sharpie and traced the position of the cams, plus took pictures so that I knew how it all went together. LOL, just don't get overwhelmed by the emptiness of your truck when everything is removed.

 

Yep I could smell it in the cab as well, and couldn’t find any traces of dye. I was able to complete the replacement with the help of you guys, and my A/C is working again. Thanks everyone!

 

Craftsman makes a uv flashlight. I have one of those flexible cameras and went in through the fan.
Worked like a charm and thankfully no leaks. Knock on wood... My issue was the expansion valve.
Good luck.

 

I plan to do this in the fall after car cruise season. A mechanic friend of mine charged it and put the dye in two years ago and the it lasted almost all summer. Last summer, the charge lasted a couple of days and the dye is nowhere to be seen. My buddy said it's the evaporator leaking and I should smell it in the cab but I don't. I'll remove the blower motor and examine first.

 

Any good videos for this gen 2 evaporator replacement ?

 

If there is, they're gonna be about 8 hours long. For me, I took the entire dash out all the way to the firewall. A Hayne's manual is gonna be your best friend. It took me and my brother something like 12-14 hours to complete over the course of a day and a half. Not for the faint of heart, but absolutely doable.

 

During cross member removal, this fell out. Maybe from brake area. Anyone know where it goes ? Thank you.

 

I think that's part of the collapsible steering column mechanism, there should be 1 on each side where the steering column bolts up I believe.

 

This has happened before to others. Read this thread:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/what-fell-out-of-my-steering-column.389187/

That piece goes to the steering column here:

 

No just one in the center between the mounting bolt slots.

 

Ah ok, I wasn't gonna take mine apart to go exploring lol.

 

You're the best Jimmy !! Thank you !

This was a big job. You need to be fairly mechanically savvy to complete it. The evap is installed and refrigerant added.

 

I just finished the evap replacement on my 2011. It was a big job and meticulous. IMO only for mechanically oriented people. take lots of pictures from different angles. I also did the refrigerant work. Probably have 30+ hours in the project. It was definitely a bad evaporator coil.

When you remove the servo motors from the air box, remove the whole assembly, not just the motors. So then the pins wont move.