how to clean the evaporator fins on the air conditioner system?

[survivor]

Does anybody know of a thread that shows how to clean the evaporator fins on the air conditioner system?
Thank you

[compress ignite]

Pictures: (Courtesy gsxr)

[compress ignite]

Spray On

Your local HVAC supplies shop or appliance repair emporium will stock it.
(Pictures courtesy gsxr)

[Hip001]

Originally Posted by compress ignite

Pictures:

OMG!! is this how they all look? Should this be done to all the cars?

[lvfast1]

I suspect most of our 20+ year old cars evap coils look that bad or worse I recently changed my blower motor on my W124 and it was worse than that but i live in Las Vegas so it gets lot of use in a dusty setting..I blew the buildup off with compressed air at an angle.. the coil goes above what the pictures show and was very dirty I used a similiar product I use at work on commercial chiller evap coils... foamed and rinsed three times with hot water from a bug sprayer...and as with the one Compress showed in the pic it is a no rinse coil cleaner so i sprayed it one last time and left it on...With the cleaned coil i easily got 50% more airflow in the cabin and the a/c now keeps up on 110+ days in Las Vegas where before it was just bearable in the cabin. I recommend cleaning if your up to it but on a W124 its not too bad to get too..Unless the wiper has been eurethaned in from previous windshield replacement..on a w123/w126 or older i have no idea what one has to go through to get access.

[Hip001]

lvfast1,
Thanks for the reply! Here in Florida it's wicked hot with high humidity. I think my AC is on 99% of my driving for the year. I will look into doing this evap/blower cleaning! or at least look in there to see it's condition!!

[lupin..the..3rd]

The nice thing about the evaporator box is that it's already got a drain hole! Load it up with your favorite cleaning products and watch the grime drain away.

[tyl604]

May I assume that these pictures are not from a 126? I see nothing that looks like anything under the hood of my 81 300SD.

[snookwhaler]

Originally Posted by Hip001

OMG!! is this how they all look? Should this be done to all the cars?

Those pictures are actually pretty good!! I cleaned the one in my truck last week and it was almost completely plugged with dirt, dust, leaves, grass and a lizard corpse.

I had been putting off the cleaning for over a year. It only took 30 minutes from start to finish in the truck. I just used a pump up sprayer with soap and water. Sprayed it on, let it soak, scraped off the goop and then blasted the evap. coil with a high pressure garden hose. The A/C performance afterwards was dramatic to say the least. The air blows much harder than before and it smells better too.

I plan to do the 300 tomorrow. I have been waiting for a day off to do it. It is worth doing.

[rrgrassi]

Originally Posted by snookwhaler

Those pictures are actually pretty good!! I cleaned the one in my truck last week and it was almost completely plugged with dirt, dust, leaves, grass and a lizard corpse.

I had been putting off the cleaning for over a year. It only took 30 minutes from start to finish in the truck. I just used a pump up sprayer with soap and water. Sprayed it on, let it soak, scraped off the goop and then blasted the evap. coil with a high pressure garden hose. The A/C performance afterwards was dramatic to say the least. The air blows much harder than before and it smells better too.

I plan to do the 300 tomorrow. I have been waiting for a day off to do it. It is worth doing.

LEt us know how it works out on the 300. I want to do the same thing but with out dis assembling the dash.

[warmblood58]

Picked up a Foam cleaner today at Home Depot designed for cleaning home and automotive evap/condensor cores. I could have sworn that several months ago I saw an excellent pic procedure on cleaning the evaoporator without removing it from the car but cannot find it??? Any help here? I am assuming that I can access the evap by removing lower kick panels and rigging up some plastic to catch the junk? Thanks!

[tdelaurier]

I dont think Ive see anything for a W126 - about all you can do is drop the fan/blower motor on passenger side and and spray from there. I put a digital camera inside to take pics to see how clean I got it. I used a garden hose to rinse. If your TWO drains are in good shape it'll drain out under the car...

I read suggestions about drilling holes - but Im not about to do that and possibly ruin a good evap..

[warmblood58]

Originally Posted by tdelaurier

I dont think Ive see anything for a W126 - about all you can do is drop the fan/blower motor on passenger side and and spray from there. I put a digital camera inside to take pics to see how clean I got it. I used a garden hose to rinse. If your TWO drains are in good shape it'll drain out under the car...

I read suggestions about drilling holes - but Im not about to do that and possibly ruin a good evap..

thanks Thomas, easy to drop motor? Pull glove box and kick panel and the rest appears straightforward I assume? Do you have a procedure for this and did you have much gunk and were you able to access all of the core this way? Thank you for the response!

Best,

James

[Hip001]

id like to try this on mine too.
let us know how it turns out and post pics.

[Hip001]

Originally Posted by snookwhaler

I plan to do the 300 tomorrow. I have been waiting for a day off to do it. It is worth doing.

Snook,
How did the 300 turn out. If you have not done it yet maybe i'll drive down and see how it's done and lend a hand. If it is as simple as the truck maybe we could knock out both of ours at the same time. let me know....