[flacoman91]

Hi,

I just registered and I am asking this question for my father. I know nothing about cars... and he knows nothing about computers.

There is a leak in the A/C that when he charges the system with freon, he can hear a hissing noise inside of the black box, so he thinks there is a leak somewhere.
He wants to remove the evaporator, and had me look up online to see if there was any info on how to disassemble the whole system. After a few searches, I couldn't find this info anywhere.

Is there something else he is missing?

Thanks!

 

[astro355]

Yep, hissing inside the box makes it pretty simple. Just make sure none of those vapors are floating around and get sucked into the passenger compartment.

Anyways, first the system needs to be completely drained of freon, by law. I know it has a leak but that is no guarantee that the leak completely drained the system. Once that's done, remove both of the hose and metal tube by the dryer. And removing the dryer (silver cylinder) will make this easier. Next the side of the black box facing the engine comes off, either 6 or 8 7mm screws hold the side on. It will be kind of tight but it does come off. There will be one more bolt holding the evaporator in place, it should be located around where the tubes attach to the side of the evaporator. Once removed, the evaporator will slide out (with a little persuasion).

Once you start putting everything together, I would suggest you replace all o-rings and seals.

 

[flacoman91]

thanks, that was helpful.
I keep telling my dad to get rid of his Astro, but the thing won't die. He figures he won't get any money for it, so its cheaper to put money in tiny repairs. They previously had a 1st gen one which wasn't as reliable, but this one currently has 240k miles and is still running strong.