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AC started smelling musty so I decided to clean it from the evap core. Bought a can of
Klima-Cleaner Air Conditioner Cleaner and following the instructions removed my blower motor/fan to spray into evap core.
Removing the blower motor housing was really straight forward.
I didn't take pics but here are the steps:
1. remove the plastic floor trim by passenger door, 4 phillips screws
2. remove the plastic passenger kick panel trim, pull towards rear of vehicle
3. remove blower motor, 3 torx 25 screws
4. unclip power cable from the motor
There wasn't too much leaf debris in the cage fan, but the fan blades were dirty af, so much crud came out I decides to remove the cage from the motor to really clean it. This was not super easy, but not hard either.
Again no pics but here are the steps:
1. be careful, the cage fan may be brittle; it's 20 years old
2. remove the spring clip with pliers
3. there is a plastic locking tab opposite the flat of the motor shaft, gently pry it away with something thin a sharp. I used the blade of a micro screwdriver
4. OPTIONAL apply some penetrating oil to motor shaft and let it wick down between the plastic and the metal
5. PROBABLY NOT OPTIONAL use a heat gun on low or a hair dryer to warm up the plastic round the motor shaft
6. GENTLY, pry the fan cage off the shaft making sure to keep the locking tab back until it clears the groove in the motor shaft
Once the cage fan was off, I washed it in the sink and scrubbed the blades with an old paintbrush to remove debris. So much fine dust came of the fan it stained the sink. I hung the fan to dry and cleaned the dirt and dust off the motor and gently blew it clean with air. Be careful not to blow the dirt INTO the motor armature.
Then I went back to the car and applied the Kilma per the instructions on the can.
The Kilma comes with two caps, a red on with a short nozzle and a white one with a long tube attached. I used both, but I added a coffee stirrer straw to the red cap to reach the core from the blower motor housing opening more easily.
If you reach into the blower motor housing with the blower motor and fan removed you can feel the core about 2-3" in from the opening. I made sure to poke the straw applicator I made right up against the core in several spots while spraying being careful not to damage the core fins. The foam will back out into the housing before melting. Don't over spray, rather wait for the foam to melt, then spray more. Spray about half the can into the core from the blower motor side.
NB - put a double or triple-folded towel on the floor of the car to catch any foam or liquid cleaner that may drip into the car, it will be dirty and can stain your carpet.
I then removed the red cap from the Kilma and installed the white cap. Here is where my
extended AC drain mod comes in handy.
I snaked the white tube that came with the Kilma up my AC drain hose, right up to the factory aluminum drain fitting. There is no need to push the spray hose into the aluminum fitting, it won't make the turn easily and the AC core is literally right behind it, getting the tube up to it is enough. I then filled the core housing, from the back side with the second half of the can and waited the 20 minutes per the instructions on the cam, using this time to start reassembling the blower, etc.
This is where the towel on the floor of the car comes in handy. I took paper towels and soaked up the melted foam cleaner from the inside of the blower motor housing, not by the core but where the screws go in to hold the motor to the housing. I used the melted, liquid cleaner and paper towels to wipe wipe the dust of the inside of the housing where the fan blades fling it, and any dirty cleaner that leaked out hit the towel rather than the carpet.
When everything looked good, I reinstalled the blower motor/cage fan assembly, connected the power and started the car to run the AC per the Kilma instructions.
I put a drip tray under my AC drain hose under the car and opened the windows, running the car with the AC on for about 15 minutes while standing outside to avoid the strong chemical smell of the Kilma. Running the AC for a while is required to evaporate all the excess cleaner out of the evaporator core, housing, etc.
Once the chemical smell was mostly gone I shut down the car and emptied the drip tray. The liquid in it wasn't super dirty, it was kinda grey in color, probably because I cleaned a lot of the crud off the fan blades before spraying the cleaner, but I've seen videos of black liquid draining out, which you don’t want on your garage floor or driveway or anything else you care about or you'll be doing more cleaning.
Well, that's it. That's the post.
I didn't take pics as I worked because my hands were dirty and the phone was upstairs but I'm sure there are a ton of pics on the internet or elsewhere on the forum.
All tolled, not including the Extended AC Drain mod (done about a year ago) it took me about an hour or so, probably more, and hopefully will be worth it, meaning the moldy smell doesn't come back in a few weeks.
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