Evaporator Replacement

[metramm]

Instead of replacing the starter with a POS Chinese made starter off Amazon 4 times, I'd rather buy an OEM from Toyota.

Higher up-front cost, but my current one has 224,000 miles on it and is 15 years old.

Also, only installing it hopefully once, not over and over again as it fails.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[FordF150]

Instead of replacing the starter with a POS Chinese made starter off Amazon 4 times, I'd rather buy an OEM from Toyota.

Fools posting to me can't or don't read. The OEM starter failed in 4 years.

Higher up-front cost, but my current one has 224,000 miles on it and is 15 years old.

Also, only installing it hopefully once, not over and over again as it fails.

Just my 2 cents.

The original OEM starter that came with the car failed in 4 years. The replacement failed in 4 years as well.

The current starter in there now came with a lifetime warranty.

Good luck finding a company offering that warranty again. Amazon.com: DB Electrical SND0491 Starter Compatible With/Replacement For Toyota Tacoma & Tundra 4.0L 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 & 4Runner 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 FJ Cruiser 2007 2008 2009: Automotive

A genuine AISN starter costs twice as much and they don't have one for my 4runner. Amazon.com: Genuine Toyota Parts 28100-62030-84 Remanufactured Starter for Toyota 4Runner V6/T100 V6/Tacoma V6/Tundra V6: Automotive

Frankly none of this is a big deal as long as they last 4 or more years.

 

[FordF150]

Instead of replacing the starter with a POS Chinese made starter off Amazon 4 times, I'd rather buy an OEM from Toyota.

Higher up-front cost, but my current one has 224,000 miles on it and is 15 years old.

Also, only installing it hopefully once, not over and over again as it fails.

Just my 2 cents.

The original OEM starter that came with the car failed in 4 years. The replacement failed in 4 years as well.

The current starter in there now came with a lifetime warranty.

Good luck finding a company offering that warranty again. Amazon.com: DB Electrical SND0491 Starter Compatible With/Replacement For Toyota Tacoma & Tundra 4.0L 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 & 4Runner 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 FJ Cruiser 2007 2008 2009: Automotive

A genuine AISN starter costs twice as much and they don't have one for my 4runner. Amazon.com: Genuine Toyota Parts 28100-62030-84 Remanufactured Starter for Toyota 4Runner V6/T100 V6/Tacoma V6/Tundra V6: Automotive

Frankly, none of this is a big deal as long as they last 4 or more years.

 

[thennen]

Since this migrated to starters, a quick perspective:

I've driven exclusively Toyotas for a little over 1.3 million miles over the past 40 years. I don't recall ever replacing an OEM starter, but maybe I did one time. This includes my 1988 4Runner, which I used as a field service tech, and I started that truck 10-15 times a day, 5 days a week. The starter was the one thing I expected to see fail, but it didn't, all the way to 305k miles. Most of the others also went past 200k.

Given the option, I would never replace an OEM starter with an aftermarket one. What good is an aftermarket lifetime warranty if you need to do the job over again (with yet another aftermarket starter) in order to collect on it?

As for evaporators, I haven't experienced a failure on one.

 

[FordF150]

Since this migrated to starters, a quick perspective:

I've driven exclusively Toyotas for a little over 1.3 million miles over the past 40 years. I don't recall ever replacing an OEM starter, but maybe I did one time. This includes my 1988 4Runner, which I used as a field service tech, and I started that truck 10-15 times a day, 5 days a week. The starter was the one thing I expected to see fail, but it didn't, all the way to 305k miles. Most of the others also went past 200k.

Given the option, I would never replace an OEM starter with an aftermarket one. What good is an aftermarket lifetime warranty if you need to do the job over again (with yet another aftermarket starter) in order to collect on it?

As for evaporators, I haven't experienced a failure on one.

The OEM starter in my 2005 4runner failed in 4 years. The dealer's shop rebuilt the solenoid and that fix lasted one year. I then started using AM starters. Ironically the first AM starter failed in 4 years too (same as the OEM).

The current starter in there now came with a lifetime warranty. The manufacturer was Quality Built. It's been in their 4-1/2 years so far. I called QB and they will honor that lifetime warranty. I purchased a new AM starter for when the lifetime warranty QB starter fails.

The OEM evaporator failed in 5 years. The Dealer replaced it with another evaporator and that worked for 9 years - until it failed.

I then bought an AM/Denzo from Amazon for $90. I had that installed at a professional AC shop at a cost of $880.

I've had ice cold AC fr a month now - apparently no freon leaks.

Also. The AC compressor failed about 3 years ao and was replaced.

I keep good records of all replacements, the time they lasted as well as other histories for this 4runner which I owned from brand new.

 

[cognus]

Got my 2005 4runner evaporator replaced two days ago and its cooling freezing great. I brought it to a AC shop for the job and it was $800 for labor - but worth it.

I had to bring them the evaporator I purchased for $90 off Amazon - a perfect fit.

that's not a bad price if it is all oem at this point. How many miles on your original? mine has 214K now and no signs of trouble, but i am wondering if I need to do anything to maintain its performance as long as possible? I let go of an amazing 04 Camry years ago mainly due to cost of replacing AC during one of our hottest 'streaks' here, with almost 270K miles on it. Looking back, I wish I had bit the bullet and replaced it. It would not have added that much in resale value, but I would have kept it another 100k.

 

[FordF150]

that's not a bad price if it is all oem at this point. How many miles on your original? mine has 214K now and no signs of trouble, but i am wondering if I need to do anything to maintain its performance as long as possible? I let go of an amazing 04 Camry years ago mainly due to cost of replacing AC during one of our hottest 'streaks' here, with almost 270K miles on it. Looking back, I wish I had bit the bullet and replaced it. It would not have added that much in resale value, but I would have kept it another 100k.

Once the evaporator leaks you need to replace it. Have an expert check it out if you suspect it leaks.

My OEM AC compressor leaked after10 years and I replaced with $200 Amazon. The OEM evap. failed in 5 years and dealer replaced with one I had to buy and bring them. That one lasted 9 years until it failed.

I now got ice cold like new - thanks to the AC shop that replaced my 3rd evaporator (I bought it to them). I'm very satisfied.

 

[r.lionel]

... soooo did you survive this? Any nuggets of wisdom to pass along?

I'm sorry about the delay in response to your question. Well I finally got the job done. Luckily I had a loaner vehicle that I could use while my 4Runner sat in my yard with grass growing up around it.

Words of advice...video a lot of it along with your commentary on what you're doing and get yourself a PDF copy of the Toyota service manual on eBay. Bag your nuts and bolts in small ziplock bags and write on there what step in the manual they were removed. Luckily there's only a few different sized bolts throughout the process so it's pretty easy to keep straight what hardware goes where. There's a couple of good how to videos on how to get down to the radio in the vehicle so that helped. There's just that one video on youtube on evaporator Replacement in a 2006 4Runner and it really did help a lot. I slowed it down and watched it many times. I'm making my own video I will be posting sometime.


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