My point was about the mechanic who thought it was old dye behind the carpet. You can clean it up and run the test again.

If it's old dye, how could it have gotten there?

Should his parts list include o-rings for the heater core manifold?


Seems like they should be replaced at the same time you've got it out of the car with access.


M

From an old leak that had already been repaired.

In rereading the thread, Hirnbeiss has a point. The main point is in his pointing out that this is a profuse leak. You need to use a sniffer to ensure that the leak is in the cabin.

When I used propane before and put my sniffer in the cabin, I got nothing from the vents which is really strange :confused:
I thought maybe it wasn't enough to be making it into the cabin. It did not smell either...That is why I used propane in the hopes I could actually smell it myself.
The sniffer was working though as it picked it up because it would beep by the fill port just after I took the can off. So the sniffer wasn't bad.

He evacuated the whole system at the shop. If I were to fill it again do I still need to put oil in the system or would it still be there?

You mean it currently has a vacuum on it? You should not leave a vacuum on a system, especially a known leaking system. You will suck in moisture and contamination. It's never a good plan to evacuate until you are ready to charge the system.

Maybe evacuate is the wrong word? He just took all the R134a back out that he filled with as it was going to leak out anyway.

Which of the vacuum pods should be the BARE minimum that are unable to be swapped unless the dash is removed?
124-800-00-75 = Defroster pod (dual chamber)
124-800-02-75 = Center vent pod (single chamber, twist-on)
124-800-03-75 = Diverter pod (single chamber, small, attaches w/3 clips)
124-800-04-75 = Recirculation / fresh air pod 1 (dual chamber)
124-800-11-75 = Recirculation / fresh air pod 2 (dual chamber)

Just trying to cut my costs down on this...$500 is pretty steep for me...
I know the footwell one is not high priority + can be done later.

The only one that you have even a chance of changing without removing the dash is the defrost. I personally wouldn't even DREAM of taking the dash off without replacing them ALL!

The entire set of pods used to cost $80 or so. That was before all the world financial events of the last couple of years, so the exchange rates may have messed with those prices pretty bad.

Footwell pod(s) and defrost pod are somewhat accessible with the dash in place, but as Larry said, best to do all while the dash is out. I believe that I bought the set for around $200 last month.

Yeh cheapest I've found them for all 6 is $270 :(
Any sources for cheaper? I can afford to buy them all, just "attempting" to cut my costs, but if you really think I should do them all, I will do them all.

You're the only one that can make this call, but this is a 15 hour job. And even if you are taking the dash apart WITHOUT replacing the evaporator, it's a 14.5 hour job. You might could get at the defroster pod without pulling the dash, but I've never tried it.

If you have lots of time on your hands such that you can take the risk, then that's a different situation.

FWIW, I have done both the ACM and the Reinz evaporators, and I like the Reinz best.

:-) neil

I have enough time and I need to compromise with the cost...
Let's give a worst case scenario -- All pods fail. Which (2) would be the most priority ones to keep you cool?
They all work right now, so if I just replace the most important ones I will be fine with that. I also think once I have done it once I could dramatically decrease the time involved to take it apart again.

Not ideal, but trying to do the best I can. I will buy the Reinz evap over ACM based on ke6dcj's suggestion. It also is cheaper than the ACM.