Hi and thanks in advance,

After wasting a lot of time with a mechanic who really doesn't know A/C work I would like to try to replace the A/C evaporator in my 1988 E-150 4.9L. My mechanic has filled the system 2 times, with dye, and within a few days the A/C loses its charge.


He can't find the leak, and now thinks its the evaporator. I borrowed a sniffer and found it is the evaporator. The leak should have been easily detected, and I have lost my trust in this guy. He is telling me the entire dash has to come out, and looking in the shop manual it doesn't seem that is the case. How tough a job is it?


Thanks
Frank D

 

I would find a new mechanic that is good on ac. It is not a hard job, but you will have to charge it when you are done. You can buy a kit in Pep Boys or AZ etc. It should have oil in the charge. Good luck with it. Just read the manual and take your time.

 

Thanks for the reply. My neighbor is a Residential/Commercial A/C contractor, and can evacuate and recharge the system, once the part is changed out. I borrowed the sniffer from him and found the leak in no time flat.

The mechanic was charging the system with a Freon Substitute (freeze 12 they called it), I am thinking of going to the 134a. Do the "O" rings have to be changed? The mechanic claims to have changed them on the first visit.

Frank D

 

I don`t see why you would need to change out all the "O" rings to change over to 134a. I had to change an ac line on my mothers grand am after I was done I just filled it up with the refill kit and its been working great since the start of summer now .

 

It's a good idea to change the o-rings, as the R134 molecules are a lot smaller than the R12, the pores in the rubber can cause a leak.

 

Thanks for the info.

How hard is it to replace the evaporator? The shop manual doesn't go into all that much detail, and it really doesn't look like too big a job.