126 evaporator cleaned (and minty fresh ;))

[jbaj007]

After seeing this: http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?threadid=74964&highlight=evaporator , and always being in search of better air conditioning, I decided to see if I could clean my evaporator while it was still in the car, since evaporator replacement wasn't in my holiday plans.

I've used aerosol foam evap cleaner on other vehicles; where you shoot it in the air box on the coils through a drilled hole or a screw hole and knew that this wouldn't cut it for what I saw in the picture.

I did the following:

1. Remove A/C fan thru the usual methods (good time to check brushes and lube motor with Singer sewing machine oil or ATF).

2. Stick my medium sized hand in the air plenum until I could feel the right side of the evap and get an idea of layout. Looked to be ~ 24 in (measured with flexible tape) from the plenum opening to the left (driver's) side of the air box.

3. Shop vac attached to a reducer and 1/4" hose with brush end (firmly attached) that is made for vacuuming computer stuff. Wormed in from blower fan opening and vacuumed as best I could (probably not overly effective, but I stuck with it).

4. Taped up a larger (1" diam.) test tube brush to a thin flexible bamboo nursery stake (~1 ft. long) and taped a vinyl hose (~1/4") along the stake so the end would squirt onto the brush. Then pushed the end of the vinyl hose on to a high pressure brass nozzle on a garden hose.

5. CHECKED TO BE SURE MY A/C CONDENSATE DRAINS WORKED PROPERLY.(or you'll be swimming in your car!)

6. Stuck my brush/hose/ bamboo handle assembly into the evap box through the blower fan opening and turned the hose on low. I used a spray foam disenfectant/cleaner also, and gently cleaned the evap in an up and down motion (following the fin direction), starting at the left and moving right , section by section, removing the brush assembly occasionally to clean the lint, dirt and hair off of it. I had to break off some of my bamboo "handle" as I moved right in order to finagle into some of the areas. Water flowing freely out the evap box drains and onto the pavement under the car.

7. After doing this gently (removing it often to clean the brush and squirt cleaner in) for about 20+ minutes, I bandaged up the cuts on the back of my hand and put it all back together. Have some rags ready for the inevitable water spills and don't drop anything into the air box (maybe a safety string?)

Risk of accelerating a pinhole corrosion of evaporator = unknown.

Don't know if it will truly help airco get cooler or more efficient, but I think it will help because I pulled out a LOT of CRUD. It was what you might imagine, viewing the picture in the referenced thread. With the electric sunshade, parallel flow condensor and some other A/C tweaks I've done, I'm getting ready for summer.
FWIW.