Is A/C Evaporator Cleaning Necessary?

I just returned from the dealer where I had an oil change & tire rotation done. That went OK. The service writer recommended an air conditioner evaporator cleaning. At $120, I declined it. Is this a real "thing" that needs to be done every year, as was suggested to me?

Is it something I can do easily.

I found this thread on doing it on a 1997 Tacoma. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diy-evaporator-cleaning.678272/

I'm relatively certain that my 2023 will be different, but how different?

 

It's not a bad thing to do, but it's a dealer easy profit maker

Frequency depends on where you live, where you park, keeping filter clean and drain line clear

 

I just found a good video online. Chloe Kuo, of course. I ordered the necessary cleaner stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNRznrMivn0&t=545s

 

On a 2023?
I've taken multiple vehicles right to the edge of 400K and never done this.
Four vehicles, actually.

 

It's less about the effectiveness of the service and more about turning a 3 dollar can of spray into 120 bucks

I have a hard time believing how some spray is going to magically dislodge debris from the evap core. If there is debris and it gets dislodged, then what? It falls down in the hvac box and blocks the evap drain. Now you've got a fish bowl in there

It's one of those maintenance type services that is hard to measure the value of what is being done. Without disassembling the dash it's hard to prove that is does or doesn't work.. so the dealer doesn't have to promise measurable results or risk an angry, unsatisfied customer..

low risk, high profit. And it doesn't require a experienced tech, anybody in the shop can do it. That's the type of stuff they want to do

 

Or they can just take a smoke break and say they did it..
What's the difference.. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Kind of like some shops do with transmission flushes.