Ac evaporator large leak

[misha]

Well...2 months after replacing ac dryer and full system service...ac stopped blowing cold air few days ago.

Recharged it at ac shop since i was in a hurry and next day nothing...again.

Additional diagnose at ac shop with nitrogen showed that all under the hood is leak free but there is a hissing from wents which is pointing to evaporator.

Leak is pretty big and doesn't hold refrigerant for more than one day.

I don't know will i put myself into adventure of replacing it...unless if there is some kind of short-cut.

[ZionXIX]

That definitely sounds like the evaporator. Time to pull the dash and replace it.

[abscate]

It’s mostly stupid work, but in one week Siberian winter comes and you don’t need AC anyway.

Seriously Misha, if you plan on two weekends for the job you can do it without getting frustrated and fatigued and save $1500-2000

[scot850]

Unfortunately a P80 problem and only way to fix it is taking the dash out. Time consuming but not terrible. My only advice is to make sure you use a good quality evaporator. I spent hours trying to reconnect the pipes at the firewall, only to find the issue was badly made oversize connectors on the evaporator (Behr). I had to carefully file it down the flared end until the snap clips eventually fitted.

Neil.

[FlyingVolvo]

It's not a very difficult job, but it just takes time and patience. I did it on my 850 and spent probably 2-3 full days working on it. Having experienced it now, I could probably do it in a full day or less from start to finish if I didn't have to repair dash mounts.

[Sveedy]

I had to remove my dash a few months back. Was not looking forward to it at all !
Turned out that like a lot of things in life, the expectation was worse than the reality. Dash in and out in one day, no problem.
Of course in my case it was 2 days due to letting the glue on the mounts cure overnight. I thought about replacing the evaporator then as a preventive measure, but since the dash removal wasn't a big deal, I left the evaporator alone.

[misha]

So...no short-cuts here
Big problem is that both ...850 & XM are daily drivers.

I'll see what i'll do about it.

Does a heater core needs to be removed too in the process of replacing that stupid evaporator?

From all the things that can quite easily be replaced...it had to be the EVAPORATOR.

@scot850
Strange thing about BEHR.
It is premium and oe for most of german cars.

@abscate
If i bite the bullet and dig into this job...i need it finished in 2 or 3 days.

Two months ago i replaced dryer,now evaporator developed large leak....i'm affraid that if i replace it...something else will blow off in the ac system.

[abscate]

You just disconnect the core from the metal pipes. The whole white plastic climate system comes out to service the evaporator.

Use a Dremel and cut the Evap off after you remove the plate in front of the firewall. No messing with the clips, takes 2 minutes

You can do it one long day. Say 10 hours. You cam have the car driveable in about 6 hours, removing Evap, replacing, then replacing climate and dash, without hooking up the rest of the climate system

[misha]

Sounds good!
What about heater core and it's housing?
Does it needs to be removed or something?

Edit...
I just re-read the post.
Heater core remains in it's housing and i just need to disconnect it from the firewall quick connection.
Right?

What about the o-rings from quick connect heater core lines?
If quick connect plastic coupler breaks...it sounds like trouble.

[abscate]

You do it in the cabin and leave the plastic connector alone