Evaporator Replacement (Aircon)

[SlothBurger]

My AC fault has been diagnosed as the evaporator needs replacing. That's a dashboard out fix by the looks of it.

Does the evaporator implode itself regularly in these vans? Never had a car or van with so many expensive problems as this does.

Evaporator costs about €460 + VAT. Plus I'm guessing about 10-12 hours to get the dash out & back in.

 

[DXX]

In my experience they get damaged by so called ‘mechanics’ poking spanners and screwdrivers around without much care.
If it failed about the same time you had some servicing or repairs I’d ask to see the damage. In fact ask to see the damage anyway, they might struggle to find it when put on the spot.

 

[SlothBurger]

In my experience they get damaged by so called ‘mechanics’ poking spanners and screwdrivers around without much care.
If it failed about the same time you had some servicing or repairs I’d ask to see the damage. In fact ask to see the damage anyway, they might struggle to find it when put on the spot.

Could very well be. It has been in for work on the EGR & Adblue and at that time it was re-gassed. Prior to that an engine mount was replaced and a service was completed. Given the difficulty of getting it removed from the dash side I thought it would be quite difficult to bash it with a spanner from the engine-side. Does it poke through the firewall so could be hit from the engine side?

AC worked for about 3 weeks after the last work done & then gone. Presumably the gas leaked out under pressure during that time.

 

[DXX]

Could very well be. It has been in for work on the EGR & Adblue and at that time it was re-gassed. Prior to that an engine mount was replaced and a service was completed. Given the difficulty of getting it removed from the dash side I thought it would be quite difficult to bash it with a spanner from the engine-side. Does it poke through the firewall so could be hit from the engine side?

AC worked for about 3 weeks after the last work done & then gone. Presumably the gas leaked out under pressure during that time.

As you don’t have a bi-turbo 199 / 204ps you have an intercooler low down in front of the evaporator, that gives some protection from stone damage.
However the upper half of the evaporator is still exposed behind the grill.
The main engine coolant radiator is behind the evaporator so that should protect the evaporator from work inside the engine bay.
If the garage has put the van in the ‘maintenance position’ to do the EGR replacement they would have removed the bumper / grill ass’y and pulled the whole radiator pack forward as far as possible. You’ll need to view the damage and assess the likelihood as to what caused it.

 

[SlothBurger]

As you don’t have a bi-turbo 199 / 204ps you have an intercooler low down in front of the evaporator, that gives some protection from stone damage.
However the upper half of the evaporator is still exposed behind the grill.
The main engine coolant radiator is behind the evaporator so that should protect the evaporator from work inside the engine bay.
If the garage has put the van in the ‘maintenance position’ to do the EGR replacement they would have removed the bumper / grill ass’y and pulled the whole radiator pack forward as far as possible. You’ll need to view the damage and assess the likelihood as to what caused it.

Are all those bits/gubbins/parts not forward of the engine i.e. at the front of the engine bay? The mechanic said the whole dash needs to come out to replace it which to me means there must be the evaporator part between the firewall and the dash down deep beneath the dash.

 

[DXX]

Are all those bits/gubbins/parts not forward of the engine i.e. at the front of the engine bay? The mechanic said the whole dash needs to come out to replace it which to me means there must be the evaporator part between the firewall and the dash down deep beneath the dash.

Sorry, my massive mistake, I was talking about the condenser!!!
Yes the evaporator is buried in the dashboard, hard to see how that got damaged.

 

[Johny]

It's the evaporator behind the dash, not much fun seeing your van like this.

New air con condenser behind dash, stuff of nightmares.

View attachment 208360

 

[SlothBurger]

Sorry, my massive mistake, I was talking about the condenser!!!
Yes the evaporator is buried in the dashboard, hard to see how that got damaged.

No worries. Condensor would probably be less invasive but just a bleddy expensive.

 

[SlothBurger]

It's the evaporator behind the dash, not much fun seeing your van like this.

Holy sheeesh. That's incredible. Then more issues after it all goes back in without breaking anything or introducing various creaking & strange noises. Did yours just implode itself too? Like what causes these evaporators to break?

 

[DXX]

No worries. Condensor would probably be less invasive but just a bleddy expensive.

They really shouldn’t fail, imagine being in the van with the windows closed and it dumps the refrigerant into the sealed space your breathing from.

 

[DXX]

I hope they are sure it’s the evaporator. There are some very good ultrasonic wand detectors with headphones for finding very small gas leaks. I used to use one to find minuscule high pressure air leaks, so small even soapy water wouldn’t detect them.

 

[Johny]

My mechanic put some green stuff in to trace the leak, seems this just happens. He also said he'd put all 132 screws and clips back in, and to be fair I don't have any noise

 

[SlothBurger]

I hope they are sure it’s the evaporator. There are some very good ultrasonic wand detectors with headphones for finding very small gas leaks. I used to use one to find minuscule high pressure air leaks, so small even soapy water wouldn’t detect them.

I think they put some sort of coloured fluid in to trace the leak and that's where it was diagnosed. How they saw it there I do not know. I'll check with them though as they are good guys. Would hate to have to rip out all the dash and then find a leak elsewhere.

 

[DXX]

I think they put some sort of coloured fluid in to trace the leak and that's where it was diagnosed. How they saw it there I do not know. I'll check with them though as they are good guys. Would hate to have to rip out all the dash and then find a leak elsewhere.

It’s also quite possible to have more than one leak, I’ve seen plenty of instances where the ‘found it’ excitement was short lived.
Hopefully they are thorough.
A good chance to sound deaden the bulkhead and clean the fan rotor while it’s pulled apart.

 

[SlothBurger]

It’s also quite possible to have more than one leak, I’ve seen plenty of instances where the ‘found it’ excitement was short lived.
Hopefully they are thorough.
A good chance to sound deaden the bulkhead and clean the fan rotor while it’s pulled apart.

I'll try get the plastic instrument cluster glass replace while it's out too. It's scratched.

 

[DXX]

I'll try get the plastic instrument cluster glass replace while it's out too. It's scratched.

Greygate plastic polish will bring it up like new, approx’ £8 on ebay.