Done! A/C Evaporator Teardown - OMG is Right!

[ghs215]

Ladies and Gentlemen of the 4Runner World,

I have just done the unthinkable, a complete A/C Evaporator teardown and replacement. OMG is right! Complete with pictures :trophy:

Total Time: 18 hours!
Total People: 2
# of Too many to count :dammit:
# of :beer: Got a kegorator - didn't keep count
Climate Control: 4 Ton A/C on Wheels piped into the rear of 4Runner (check the pics!)
How did we do it? :rtfm:
How many parts left over? NONE! arty:

SEE ALL THE PICS
Home - 2006 4Runner SR5 4x4

 

[rando]

:jaw:

 

[ghs215]

 

[DT04R]

Holy shit, that $1200 bill for ours looks REALLY good after that post

 

[AuSeeker]

A BIG KUDOS to you and your helper for a job well done!! :first: :dancin: :banana:

 

[CXS]

No parts left over? I doubt I've ever accomplished that! :tongue1:

Well done, you've convinced me to not even try!

 

[chmura]

Awesome! I love when people DIY themselves! Good job!

After all that hard work I sure hope you went to the dealer and bought an oem part. I could not risk having a after market one leaking and doing that job a second time!

 

[ghs215]

After all that hard work I sure hope you went to the dealer and bought an oem part. I could not risk having a after market one leaking and doing that job a second time!

I bought parts from Amazon (free ship).

Denso 477-0627 A/C Condenser $75.34
Denso 476-0040 A/C Evaporator Core $92.31
Denso 475-0512 Expansion Valve $34.78

 

[03v8raleigh]

The amount of design and engineering that goes into these vehicles blows my mind.

 

[bootheel]

Glad to see a DIYer complete this job. I am about to take my turn at this project this weekend. Any advice on disassembly or reassembly that might have saved some time? The obvious advice is probably "Don't Do It", but I'm up for the challenge.

 

[ghs215]

Glad to see a DIYer complete this job. I am about to take my turn at this project this weekend. Any advice on disassembly or reassembly that might have saved some time? The obvious advice is probably "Don't Do It", but I'm up for the challenge.

Follow the FSM (print out the applicable sections). Only take off what you have to...the FSM may tell you to take off things that don't need to. Take the front seats out.

buy one of these from amazon.

Performance Tool W86556 Clip Removal Plier

#1 - take pictures, lots of them. It will pay dividends when you cant remember which way you took it off.

 

[simple]

Just the guy I need! A few days ago I was cleaning what I shouldn't have even been touching and thing I broke that assembly. In the pic, the rippled thing with the 2 black lines, as far as I can tell is what cuts the outside air off/on. I think it was all the way back and I popped it forward. When I press the circulate button, nothing happens if it's down. I can push it back, but it only goes back about 3/4 of the way and feels like its spring loaded to go back down. The circulate button will bring it down but it never comes back up.

Any ideas? Or even following what I'm talking about?

Thanks

 

[BlackWorksInc]

[MENTION=85386]ghs215[/MENTION]

Well done doing it yourself, but why did you take the dash bar out? Usually you can just swing those up a bit and wiggle the HVAC box out without having to waste extra time.
[MENTION=19984]simple[/MENTION]

Depends on if you broke the actuator arm or not... the actuator is bolted to the right side of the box next to the ECM and such.

 

[ghs215]

[MENTION=85386]ghs215[/MENTION]

Well done doing it yourself, but why did you take the dash bar out? Usually you can just swing those up a bit and wiggle the HVAC box out without having to waste extra time.

Not sure how you could do that with the upper tabs from the bar going into the box and the 2 arms coming down blocking it from being pulled straight out?

 

[alia176]

Jeebus, that's an undertaking to say the least. Congrats dude, a job well done but damn, Toyota didn't want the evaporator to be easy serviced I guess. Damn, it's buried in there and DEEP!

 

[bunzz]

Holy shit, that $1200 bill for ours looks REALLY good after that post

I literally had the same thoughts after seeing this, LOL.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Not sure how you could do that with the upper tabs from the bar going into the box and the 2 arms coming down blocking it from being pulled straight out?

It's been a while since I had to pull an HVAC out of a 4Runner, are those bars not bolted to the main bar like most of the other Toyotas? Usually you can get the long sections off and twist the bar up and pull it towards the driver's side to pull the box out the passenger end.

 

[ghs215]

It's been a while since I had to pull an HVAC out of a 4Runner, are those bars not bolted to the main bar like most of the other Toyotas? Usually you can get the long sections off and twist the bar up and pull it towards the driver's side to pull the box out the passenger end.

Nope. Welded. Go figure...

 

[ghs215]

Oh, before I forget. Dont forget to put the black ducting (on top of white box) on BEFORE putting the bar back in. We almost got all the wiring harness back on before we realized....lost an hour for that :redbrick:

 

[AuSeeker]

Oh, before I forget. Dont forget to put the black ducting (on top of white box) on BEFORE putting the bar back in. We almost got all the wiring harness back on before we realized....lost an hour for that :redbrick:

OOPS!, maybe too much beer by that time contributed to the CRS!!!