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)
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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

[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