2006 Evaporator Replacement

[Rngrs3910]

My AC stopped blowing cold air last week. I tried to tough it out, but its been in the 80s and 90s in Boston, and that was too much with leather seats.

Dropped it off at a local mechanic who called me back and said my evaporator needs to be replaced. Said the whole dash needs to come off, probably 7 hours of work, $1000+ when all is said and done. I'm up at 125k miles, he said this could just be the first of many things to start going in the ac unit, and i may want to consider putting up with it for the summer, then looking to sell it.

Any thoughts?

 

[Town]

The dash will have to come out to remove the heater core and evaporator core, so it is a fairly large job. I don't know how many hours it will take, but 7 hours seems reasonable. Ford say to vacuum test the evaporator to confirm a leak before removing the unit. Do you know if this was done?

A second opinion on very expensive repairs is usually a good idea. Take your truck to an A/C specialist this time.

Trading in your truck on something else is not going to be cheap either, and you may get other problems to deal with.

Good luck.

 

[kanundrum17]

I am actually in the same predicament. I am pretty mechanically inclined (have swapped out suspension in general on a lot of cars as well as sensors brakes etc) but looking thru the haynes manual it says i have to remove the whole dash as well because of the evaporator core replacement. The shop (Firestone in Birmingham Alabama) said my evap core has a leak and it will start giving me trouble. Lately the A/C goes in and out and has not been too consistent yet.

I am thinking about doing the job my self but then after seeing that the dash needs to be removed I am not 100% Sure.

I have a 2008 Explorer Eddie Bauer 2wd.

Any suggestions? The dealership and firestone quoted me about $1500 easy for parts and labor, Its about 1k in Labor.

Any suggestions? Bite the bullet ?

 

[Town]

Removing the dash usually requires 2 people to handle the weight and aukward size in a small area. You probably don't want to go there unless it is confirmed that your evaporator will not hold a vacuum.

If the A/C is working sometimes but not always then it is unlikely that the evaporator is the problem. The evapaorator can leak, but then the A/C performance would keep dropping until out of refrigerant and then no A/C. I think you need an A/C specialist to confirm the refrigerant charge, and if very low then vacuum test the evaporator.

Is your A/C cycling?

If your A/C operation is intermittant then you may have a different problem. I would check the air flow through the condenser and the rad since they can get partially blocked with debris. Perhaps the pressure switch on the accumulator/drier is faulty.

Good luck.