1999 V70 wagon

richie8828 · Post by **richie8828** » 21 Mar 2006, 07:23

My A/C evaporator core is junk and they want 3,000 to repair it. I was told however that if I removed the dash myself it would be alot cheaper I was told it is expensive due to the fact it is very labor intensive as far as the dash is concerned. Can anyone tell me the process for this removal ? I am pretty mechanically inclined and confident I can due this but visual aids and instructions would be nice

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 21 Mar 2006, 08:46

First off, you don't say which car you have, but 850 and first gen. 70 series Volco's are the same, so hope you are posting about one of them.

Yes, as you say, the dash does have to come out. However $3000 for this is JUNK. The job is a bear but shouldn't be more than $1200 at the most. You can do it yourself but count on several days of intensity. There's a good write-up here with pictures so you'll know what you're getting into. http://www.picturetrail.com/gid1858370 Here's some comments about the guy who took the pictures on another forum: http://forums.swedespeed.com/zerothread?id=8235
It seems that Volvo took the Evaporator and then decided to build the car around it, if you know what I mean.

Post by **pfeener** » 21 Mar 2006, 09:43

Just as a benchmark; I had my evap done on my 98 S70 a few years ago and it was $1200 at the dealer and they did it in one day. I dropped it off at 7:30 in the morning and picked it up at 4:30 that evening. Obviously done by a guy who's done these before.

ashfielder · Post by **ashfielder** » 07 Apr 2006, 19:31

Hmmm - the same folks that want $3,000 for a $1200 job told you it was "junk"? I have a 1998 V70. The AC gradually lost cooling at about 80,000. Beefore they would recharge it, the folks at the dealer said I should put dye in the system (with a recharge) to see if anything was leaking. Bad news was - the evaporator was leaking. Need to replace right away. Since I had notihing to lose, I drove it for a while. AC worked fine with the recharge for - you guessed it - two years and about 60,000 miles. Then it got weak again. Went to non-volvo AC recharge place. They said - evaporator is leaking, and would get worse fast. I said - charge it up anyway. That was two years ago and another 30,000 miles - worked fine past two summers. I know - I'm gradually killing myself with AC gas. Still - it's environmentally friendly gas - and at $100 every 2 years, I'll take the odds.