Evaporator cleaning kit

[qship96]

Today I stopped at a Toyota dealer to pick up a can of BG frigi-clean foam to inject in evaporator case to clean whatever has accumulated in the last 212,000 miles.

Parts guru says they stock and use a similar kit made by Petro Chemical -Amrep {made in Marietta,Ga- qtech have you heard of them} includes 18oz can of foam cleaner, 4 oz can of vent freshner, and hose kit to inject foam thru evaporator drain outlet

Price seemed reasonable at $14 for the kit, as compared to Joes price of $38 for the similar BG product

Will inject product next week while car is up on lift getting oil changed and report back any difference in a/c temperatures,etc

[Q45tech]

The foam cleaner kits are designed to kill fungus and improve the smell not clean up air flow restrictions.

You will need to at least remove fan so you can get in box with ulta mini vacuum and tiny brushes, tools and cleaners.

[qship96]

Ok, what started out to be a simple spray foam evaporator cleaning got complicated thanks to Q45techs post so.......

Just completed a manual cleaning of evaporator-removed glove box, darlington turd, and blower motor...and found about 1/3 of total area of evaporator face blanketed with a black matted mess {looked like clothes dryer lint screen after washing black towels, only greasy}.

I used a toothbrush, chop stick, and mini-shark vacuum to remove as much as I could get to{about 10% of evaporator face was impossible to get to due to obstructions from freon lines, expansion valve temp sender,etc. I then reinstalled blower motor and darlington turd and injected entire can of the power foam in to evap. case thru a small hole in case. A small amount of foam found its way out of several crevices in blower case and evap. case

Reinstalled glovebox and lower dash trim, stuck the taylor dig. thermo. in center vent and went for a small drive.... results are positive as I saw 46.1F vent temp with fan on HIGH, recirculate on and before procedure I could not get below 51.2F under same settings and outside temps

I highly recommend fellow Q owners to spend the 1 hour to clean their evaporator, as I was shocked at the amount of restriction across evap. face and happy to get 5 degree cooler air {airflow seems stronger also}

[Q45tech]

And the heater core will be just as bad and the differential temp being higher 174F vs 120 outlet so expect a 10F improvement in heater peak temp......................except you cannot reach heater core to clean so easily.

Factory assumes you will replace evaporator when it needs cleaning.

What happens when you don't disassemble every 6-7 years for mainteance.

The cleaning probably reduced the cruise HP compressor drag by at least 1 HP saving you 25 cents per hour of cruise with ac on.

Your hour of work had a 1 year pay back for sure!

[Haitian_King]

Very informative. I plan on doing the same soon.

Pardon me for asking, but what's a "Darlington turd"?

[qship96]

Sorry! It is the fan speed controller, located in evaporator case between blower motor and evaporator element- removing it {2 screws} leaves a nice lttle opening to insert your brushes and vacuum hose to clean the grunge off the evaporator.

[Haitian_King]

Sorry! It is the fan speed controller, located in evaporator case between blower motor and evaporator element- removing it {2 screws} leaves a nice lttle opening to insert your brushes and vacuum hose to clean the grunge off the evaporator.

Thank you!