A/C Evaporator De-Stinkifier

[jrandom]

Since it's that time of year, I finally I decided to run some of the wonderful air conditioner evaporator cleaner through that stinky old box and take some pics.

This is just a quick set of pictures showing what to pull and where the key locations are of the A/C evaporator are. Most products have similar instructions so follow whatever it says on what you have bought. I have some 1Z Klima-Klean and the Toyota branded 2 stage cleaner, I have had the 1Z longer so that is what I used this time.

FYI Some more DIY in the thread: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/210683-evaporator-heater-core-cleaning-anyone-done.html

 

[jrandom]

The evaporator drain can be used with the Toyota branded evap cleaner. OR you can pull the driver's side kick plate, pull the blue plug and inject your cleaner there.

Anyway enjoy a stank free AC system for at least a little while

 

[silversurfer525]

This should be a sticky

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[gringo8251]

This should be a sticky

Perhaps the mods will place it in the general maintenance thread for quick reference.

 

[cognus]

Yes Sticky

Agree. thank you for this work OP

Anyone reading this may want to take note:
https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2018/toyota-air-conditioner-smell-lawsuit.shtml

It is a big suit. Dunno if will get traction. Toyota is "good" at deflecting these nuisances. I noticed the stink bigtime in a Lexus 2011 LS460, a really nice sedan that only had 62000 miles on it. Dealer tried to sell it for 4 months, finally sent to auction yesterday. the price fell and fell. Guess the dealer did not want to put the money into simply cleaning the entire system.

As the lawsuit outline suggests: dealers have been informed about the issue via technical support channels, but admit there is no permanent fix. I don't know how other vehicles escape the problem :shrug:

 

[mcarey86]

I may have to give this a run.

I usually will just run the heat at full bore in the driveway for 10 minutes or so every few months.

I also found that turning off re-circ 5-10 minutes before you arrive where you're going tends to help with the stank quite a bit as well.

 

[Heavy_GD]

Props to OP on this for sure... its been an issue for a long time so this applies to basically all Toyotas.

 

[DesertCanyons]

AC air duct cleaner

I may have to give this a run.

I usually will just run the heat at full bore in the driveway for 10 minutes or so every few months.

I also found that turning off re-circ 5-10 minutes before you arrive where you're going tends to help with the stank quite a bit as well.

Good ideas here. And thanks to the OP for posting this repair.

I usually turn off the recirculating air switch soon after starting the AC. When I get close to where I'm going I turn off the AC by pushing the center of the AC dial. The AC indicator light turns off when you do this. I run the air for a minute with the temp control at straight up or a bit warm. As soon as the air gets dry or warm I shut the fan off. This dries out the air ducts and prevents the air from smelling stale the next time you turn it on.