DIY Evaporator Cleaning

I will show how to deep clean the evaporator without removing it. This will help cool a lot better on these hot days.
This was done on a 97 Tacoma.

Do this at your own risk. Be gentle

1.Remove the glove box



2. Remove all this screws and remove the steel bar and the upper plastic cover which has 1 screw holding a harness. Remove that screw also.





3.Remove the middle duct by pulling gently the right side of the dash(Red arrow)



4. Disconnect all these plugs. And move the wire out of the way(yellow arrow)


5. Remove these holding pin and screw.



6.Remove the fan blower resistor




7. Remove the bottom screws


8. Gently open to expose the evaporator. Will not open completely since has more pins behind. But this will give you enough space to work on.



9. Use compressed air to clean first


10. I used this spray. Is water based and scented with lemon. Home depot $5


11. Spray foam and clean with compressed air. Repeat 3-4 times until spray foam comes without dirt


Dry as much as you can the evaporator. Use shop towell to absorb any moisture and water. Also make sure the drain is in place after reinstalling everything.

12. I also cleaned the blower




Put everything back together. And dont forget to check for the sealing around the case, I didnt put any new sealant since mine was in good shape. I dont have an after picture I forgot to take one Lol. Hope you guys can do it.

 

Hey man this is a great write up! Clear pictures and explanations should make it possible for anyone to do it.
Nice work hombre

 

Great idea, and a great write up!
Probably a pound of dust came out of the system between the evaporator and the fan.

 

Should make it possible for anyone to do.

Is one of the scariest phrases in the English language !

 

This is great, adding it to my todo list. Judging by the amount of leaves and pine needles I’ve pulled out of various nooks and crannies I can’t wait to see what 16 years of accumulated filth looks like on evaporator and fan.

 

Thanks for documenting! I'll have to add this one to the list.

 

Nice write up @Miranda94 this is definitely on my to-do list now. Truck will be parked for a couple of days and gives me an excuse to bust out the new shop-vac

FYI you can add a link to your sig for this write up so any post you reply to people can get to it easier.

Or there might be a way to submit it to the sticky "mods" post on the main page?

 

Post the before and after pictures if you guys do it.

 

I don't even have a first Gen, but dang, that was one nice write-up. Thank you for taking the time to post all that.

 

After doing this did you notice a difference? Does the foaming cleaner make it blow lemon scent?

 

holly crap, I'm kinda scared to look at mine now, lol.

Add this to the list for sure, though.

Thanks for the write-up!

 

I think we should call this the @Miranda94 Evaporator Cleaning Mod.

You have expanded many minds with your well documented post, sir.

 

Nice DIY! I did this today and luckily the blower motor and core were really clean! However I did find some sort of hippie granola bar behind the glove box that expired in 2006!

 

A 'granola' granola bar??

 

I really noticed a difference. And the lemon scent goes away in 1-2 days of use.

 

Does anyone have a writeup similiar to this for a 2nd generation?!?

 

Damn, I never would have expected it to be that dirty. Might pop mine open since all that shit is out already

 

Great write-up, thanks for the detailed pics and info! My coils weren’t as bad as I was expecting and my blower wasn’t dirty enough to mess with. I vacuumed out the leaves/dust and then sprayed with cleaner as well as sprayed cleaner up through the drain tube.

 

Minus the leaves, that is clean!

 

Added to my to do list. Thank You