Shep,

I hope my post does not offend you. I am only trying to help you take the correct approach.

Some of the things you said, reminded me of a joke that I heard when I was a very small child, I think I read it on a double bubble cartoon that came wrapped around bubble gum in those days.

The joke goes; Someone is looking around under a street light. Someone else comes up and asks what they are looking for. The person responds saying that they lost a quarter. The other person starts looking around and asks "where did you lose it? The other person turns and points and says they lost it in the middle of the block. The helper asks "so why are you looking for it here?" The first person responds "because the light is better here."

If you suspect that the evaporator is leaking, it sounds like you are looking where the light is better. I understand totally why you hesitate to change the evaporator. It is a BIG, patience testing job. But, don't do ANYTHING until you PROPERLY DIAGNOSE.

Since the system will hold refrigerant for awhile it would be very simple to CONFIRM that the evap is the problem. You do this by putting in UV dye. After the dye is in the system and it is charged enough to work. Run the a/c enough for it to drain condensation water on the driveway. Shine a black light under the car at the water. If there is UV dye in the condensation drain water, then the problem is indeed the evaporator. If it is NOT leaking at the evaporator, the black light will show you where it IS leaking.

The key here is diagnosis. As the possible problem becomes more expensive and more serious, proper diagnosis becomes extremely important. Don't go into such things blind. Diagnose thorougly and properly.

I hope I did not offend. I was only trying to impress my point on you, thus providing help.

Have a great day,