[RESOLVED] Evaporator Core Cleaning Questions

[Celeborn]

I've got a 1997 Mercury Mountaineer 5.0, and I've been searching for days on how to clean the evaporator core without having to discharge the system.

I've read several ideas, and I'm not sure whether or not they will work, so I figured I'd post here and ask for some tips.

1) Drill a 1" hole in the side of the evaporator housing in the engine bay, and use a water hose to clean out the evaporator, and housing. Wouldn't this leak water into the cabin?

2) Remove the blower motor, and use a vacuum to reach in and suck the debris out. This one seems logical, but will you gain access to the evaporator by removing the blower motor?

3) Remove the cowling, and use a water hose to spray down inside of it.

Would either of these work? I don't want to seem like a complete idiot for posting this, but I've NEVER done work on an AC system, and taking it into a shop is not an option for me at this point in time. The AC is ice cold, and heat is hot, but you can barely even feel it blowing, no matter what fan speed, or vent selection. The air volume on high is equal to that of when you exhale out of your nose.

 

[Celeborn]

After tossing it around, I decided to go for it. I removed the air cleaner box, coolant reservoir, windshield washer reservoir, and the cruise control module, to get to the blower motor.

I then removed the blower motor, vacuumed out all of the leaves and debris, sprayed some Purple Power degreaser all over the inside of the evaporator container, and on the evaporator itself, let it soak for 5 minutes, re-sprayed it, and then used a water hose to blast all of the gunk out of the evaporator channels. Used a Wet-Dry vacuum to suck all of the excess water that didn't drain, sprayed half a can of Lysol disinfectant down inside to kill any mold, re-assembled everything, turned the air conditioning on, and it blows like BRAND NEW. Mind you I had ZERO air flow before, it was all noise.

I'm super happy, and best of all, all it cost me was a $4.88 gallon of Purple Power from Wal*Mart!

Didn't have to bother with evacuating the AC lines, or removing the entire black casing, did it all right from the blower motor opening.

 

[Beaumont]

I've got a 1997 Mercury Mountaineer 5.0, and I've been searching for days on how to clean the evaporator core without having to discharge the system.

I've read several ideas, and I'm not sure whether or not they will work, so I figured I'd post here and ask for some tips.

1) Drill a 1" hole in the side of the evaporator housing in the engine bay, and use a water hose to clean out the evaporator, and housing. Wouldn't this leak water into the cabin?

2) Remove the blower motor, and use a vacuum to reach in and suck the debris out. This one seems logical, but will you gain access to the evaporator by removing the blower motor?

3) Remove the cowling, and use a water hose to spray down inside of it.

Would either of these work? I don't want to seem like a complete idiot for posting this, but I've NEVER done work on an AC system, and taking it into a shop is not an option for me at this point in time. The AC is ice cold, and heat is hot, but you can barely even feel it blowing, no matter what fan speed, or vent selection. The air volume on high is equal to that of when you exhale out of your nose.

THANK YOU for posting this! This is EXACTLY WHAT I WAS WONDERING & EXACTLY THE ANSWER I WAS LOOKING FOR - Have same problem & have been miserable with no air flow for the LAST TIME!

I appreciate u taking the time to post this. I'm going to do it tomorrow!

 

[Beaumont]

After tossing it around, I decided to go for it. I removed the air cleaner box, coolant reservoir, windshield washer reservoir, and the cruise control module, to get to the blower motor.

I then removed the blower motor, vacuumed out all of the leaves and debris, sprayed some Purple Power degreaser all over the inside of the evaporator container, and on the evaporator itself, let it soak for 5 minutes, re-sprayed it, and then used a water hose to blast all of the gunk out of the evaporator channels. Used a Wet-Dry vacuum to suck all of the excess water that didn't drain, sprayed half a can of Lysol disinfectant down inside to kill any mold, re-assembled everything, turned the air conditioning on, and it blows like BRAND NEW. Mind you I had ZERO air flow before, it was all noise.

I'm super happy, and best of all, all it cost me was a $4.88 gallon of Purple Power from Wal*Mart!

Didn't have to bother with evacuating the AC lines, or removing the entire black casing, did it all right from the blower motor opening.

THANK YOU for posting this! This is EXACTLY WHAT I WAS WONDERING & EXACTLY THE ANSWER I WAS LOOKING FOR - Have same problem & have been miserable with no air flow for the LAST TIME!

I appreciate u taking the time to post this. I'm going to do it tomorrow!

 

[de]

Mahalo for posting. I have been asking to see if the plastic box that houses the evaporator can simply be unbolted and opened to clean and vacuum out. I have a '91 Explorer and I am pretty sure it's clogged and dirty. I know my a/c system is fine overall. But in the summer, it takes a bit for the heat to transfer to cold and in the winter, the windows fog up after awhile. I started thinking about the evaporator being clogged as I used to work on commercial HVAC systems and sometimes just a cleaning of the evaporator vanes got things to work properly again. I'll check out your suggestion of just removing the blower motor.