How to clean your Evap core for the summer without having to take out, get rid of nasty fish odor bacterial smell when ac is on... Options

[chacha]

There is a kit at toyota, but it cost $50-up and i find it that this product i used was cheaper and does the same thing. nice tune up for the summer. This will kill bacteria, mold...etc and act like a de-greaser to get rid of dirt and other nasty things in there.

Go to Lowe's to find this cleaner...other hardware store might have it, but it is expensive there...online it cost $50...or more...at Lowe's ----> $5-7 after tax.

Frost king ac foaming cleaner

Materials used:

1.) frost king air conditioner coil cleaner *19 oz. aerosol foaming type (lemon smells like)
[/b]


2.) Screw driver (4-sided)
3.) napkins for wiping

THAT's all.


First open your glove department. Two screw on the bottom and three on top...pull it down and take off necessary clips...i would disconnect the battery since there is an airbag wiring located on the top of the glove department.

look at the bottom to find the blower resistor like this with two 4-sided screws:



Unscrew it off...



then simply spray in it with the cleaner....it'll foam up and let it sit for 5-10 mins....i practically spray the whole can...

go back and put it in....screw the two screws back in place...plug in the battery and turn on your car....


Dry the evaporator for 30 minutes with
the following settings:

AC: . . . . . . . . . . . Off
Air Outlet: . . . . . Foot
Mode: . . . . . . . . . Recirc.
Blower: . . . . . . . High
Temp: . . . . . . . . . Max Warm
Windows: . . . . . Closed

Open windows for ventilation if cleaner has strong smell.

Do not turn on
the AC switch until the evaporator is
completely dry as this can reduce the
effectiveness of the solution.

Put glove department back on and you are done....recommend to clean every 2 years, but i say just do it every time you have a funky smell...it's a 1/2 hour job and it cost $5-7 for cleaner air since we don't have any cabinet filters to help out....

Repeat the process with another can or if you have some left to get a cleaner core if needed.

This post has been edited by chacha: Feb 14, 2011 - 12:38 AM

[Rusty]

awesome job (added to the stickies)

[richee3]

Nice writeup! Considering the age of our cars and the crap that has gone through our A/C systems over the years and how cheap this is, I would be astonished if half the site doesn't go out and do this in the next few weeks.

[chacha]

this is pretty much where and how the guys at the dealership do it...they charge quite a bit for something so little and easy. there are other brand out there like BG frigi clean, but that's just a high price name brand that does the same as frost king. The best part of it all was seeing all that nasty brownish gunk come out of the evap tube from the fire wall...some coming out of the vents, but easy wiping will take care of it....good to have a second person stand by one side if you're on the other, that way you won't miss the drip coming out of the vents.


Here is a better drawing detail from toyota themselves on how to clean for toyota cars.

Evap core cleaning pdf file with drawings all models from 97-2002

This post has been edited by chacha: Feb 14, 2011 - 6:40 AM

[HectortheRican]

I love it!! I'm doing this once it starts getting warm. ESPECIALLY before I go back to Texas for the summer.

[mkernz22]

I'm going this in the Spring! Great write up man!

[njccmd2002]

i actually bought a double system online for 35 bucks, that comes like this. Apparently you can install a nipple and leave it there.. but this is cheaper..

[chacha]

yeah...that'll work too...eh...5-7 dollars....hahaha ---> guess im cheap. frost king heavy duty ac core coil cleaner worked for me.

[richee3]

Letting mine dry right now The smell of the foam itself wasn't too bad but as soon as I started the car and turned the heater on... it got real strong, real fast. In about 10 minutes, it'll be done and I'll go for a drive and find out if it made a difference. I just had to replace my evap core and upon seeing the prices of new cores from Toyota, promptly ran straight to the junk yard and got myself a used unit. Total cost so far is $5.75 and so far it seems to be making a big difference.

[trdproven]

bought an evap core from ebay for 30 bucks or something...brand new, i replaced it with a new drier and its been working for a year now.

usually the odor is a good sign that the evap is also leaking.

On topic sounds like a good plan if everyone has tried it.

[richee3]

My a/c definitely wasn't smelling funky or anything but I figured I just pulled an evap core out of an unknown Celica with 208k on it... probably better clean it. No telling what kind of junk that evap core has seen.

I gotta say it seemed like a good idea at the time but now the car just smells really strong of Pine Sol every time we turn the a/c on. Lowe's didn't have the Frost King in stock so I got the cheap brand. Big mistake

[BK94ST]

The Toyota kit is also 2 parts. Foaming spray is sprayed up the drain hose and refresher is sprayed down through the cowl panel. Retail on the Toyota kit is only $20. If a dealer is selling it for $50 I wouldn't go there.

[Special_Edy]

Lol I have a couple cans of the Frost King sitting around. It works wonders on the central AC in the house and my refrigerators. All the crap on the coils just melts off. I thought you were supposed to let it sit on the coils and then spray some more on with the blower motor running.

This post has been edited by Special_Edy: Apr 20, 2012 - 1:15 PM

[Box]

Awesome, next time I'm at the Wal-Mart that carries this will have to get some. Tried spraying Lysol through the cowl vents, helped some, but something is still there. Will try this now.

[nics]

The Toyota kit is also 2 parts. Foaming spray is sprayed up the drain hose and refresher is sprayed down through the cowl panel. Retail on the Toyota kit is only $20. If a dealer is selling it for $50 I wouldn't go there.

thread revival, i am looking on doing this and i found where you can order the toyota refresher kit

http://lexus.sewellparts.com/accessories-c...-1999/4481.html