I am replacing the evaporator in my son's 2005 Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by bbrages, Jul 11, 2024.

  1. bbrages

    bbrages Member

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    Had an A/C leak, filled it up last year and it was good for the summer. This year, not so much.

    Couldn't find the leak with UV. Got a cheap sniffer from Amazon, that thing never seemed to work right for me. Just randomly whooping.

    Anyway, I started thinking it was evaporator through process of elimination. Drilled a hole in the A/C "box" in the location "lech" recommends and used a borescope to see a green streak of oil on the evap.

    Using the "fixaday" Youtube tutorial to tear apart the interior. Good tutorial, but that guy is so fast. Got it down to the metal bar and wiring harness after a few hours. Currently waiting on the A/C disconnect pin tools and trying to decide the best way to deal with the wiring. I'm getting there!

    This is one of the most ambitious DIY jobs I've done.
     
    #1 bbrages, Jul 11, 2024
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    This is a royal pain in the butt Good on you for giving it a whirl I guess The pen tools are available at all the parts stores on the wall with all the silly help tools I just had to buy a set of those the other day because I couldn't find my old ones they were $14 or $9.99 or something like that the two different sizes that undo the clamps around the high and low side fittings. You're going to have to take a few things off the box and all that in the car or maybe just unplug those dampers and pull all that out with the assembly and then bust that apart I don't know if you're replacing the expansion valve and all that while you're in there too have no idea It could be a good idea four seasons and companies make a lot of this stuff the aftermarket has a lot of the air conditioning stuff covered at least some of the hard parts.
     
    #2 Tombukt2, Jul 11, 2024
  3. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

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    Since you are going to all that work, perhaps it would also be a good time to...

    Clean/lubricate the 3 actuators? These are normally a PITA to get at, or at least get out, but they should be right in front of you at this point. See for instance:

    Removing the A/C blend door actuator | PriusChat

    Fix the gauge cluster capacitor. But unless the car was already having symptoms, or a visual inspection shows bulged or leaking capacitors, there would be no reason to do this work.

    Blow the dust out of the ducts.

    Any other ideas for things the OP should check/service since the dash is already apart?
     
    #3 pasadena_commut, Jul 11, 2024
  4. bbrages

    bbrages Member

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    Got it back together, the fix seems good. Old evaporator was absolutely disgusting.

    I didn't mess with anything that seemed to be working. Just replaced the evaporator and used new o rings on all connections. Added one oz of oil, probably should have done two since some leaked.

    I'm going to be seeing electrical connectors in my sleep tonight, lol.

    Finished the job and had two brass colored 12mm head bolts left over. Couldn't think of anything that beefy that I'd forgotten. Rewatched the video and figured out it was the bolts for the passenger airbag. Not too hard to put in, just pop out the glove box.

    Got an error when I put it in drive, but it was just because my door was open. Whew!
     
    #4 bbrages, Jul 13, 2024
  5. Oliver Ingwall King

    Oliver Ingwall King New Member

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    Thanks for posting I need to try this before winter.
     
    #5 Oliver Ingwall King, Jul 15, 2024
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