Leak in evaporator core

hm, okay so it’s built into the condenser... I’ve had my evap core off the truck for two days. Do I need to replace the condenser since the system has been “open?” for a while? I talked to one of the mechanics at Toyota and he didn’t mention anything about replacing the condenser

 

Dammit, I'm trying to catch up and I have guests looking at me like... wtf are you on your pc?!!! Tomorrow I will answer

 

I would say yes, but I defer to Curt he is the man for all things AC related.

 

I ordered a new evaporator core, expansion valve, condenser, oil, and o-rings last night. Hopefully that was wise! Haha

 

Sorry for the delay, I'm old and forgetful.

 

Tacomas do not have an accumulator, they are use on orifice tube systems, in the suction line. Tacomas use a TXV so they have a receiver drier in the high side. Just trying to get things strait.

 

Yes the dessicant in the drier is most likely saturated. It is built into the condenser, so you have to replace the condenser. Brilliant idea Toyota! Not.

 

This is the first time I've seen you post something that is incorrect.

 

That made me laugh!

 

I've seen maybe a handful of TXVs go bad, but they can. Might as well change it while you're at it. I think you got this.

A few things to remember:
Keep everything as clean as you can
Keep the caps on the condenser til you're ready to hook up the lines to it. Do it last.
Put 1oz of oil in the inlet of both the cond and evap, and try not to expose the oil to air any longer than you have to.
If you use vacuum holding as a leak test.... But it's better than nothing. If it holds, turn the vac pump back on for another hour or so. Longer is always better.

That's all I can think of right now. Good luck.

 

Got everything back together and now my air bag light is on. Dammit.

 

@justin144

following your thread as I am fixing to dive in this weekend hopefully and change out the thermistor on the evaporator.

curious if you have any pics of the actual sensor on the evaporator? I have seen drawings but looking for an actual pic. I’ll take any additional pictures you have for reference!

Any advice to taking the dash apart? How long did it take you?

Thanks in advance!!

 

If you guys end up doing this could you take some photos of the HVAC shroud and how the evap and heater cores mount inside in relation to another?

 

I apologize, I did not take many pictures, and don’t know how good the ones I took are for reference. I had someone helping me and didn’t wanna take too much of their time lol. But I uploaded them all here: https://imgur.com/gallery/wLz9ZOO

I did it over the course of a few days. Depending on how much of your dash you’ve taken apart before, it might take 5-6 hours to get it all out. I tried to take some shortcuts like not disassembling the steering column, and not totally removing the wiring harness and it very difficult to remove the giant crash bar, which is attached to the giant A/C unit. You’ll wanna both both those out together.

I don’t have pics of that sensor. But you can see it when you open up the box where the evaporator core is