Justrolledintotheshop
CS A/C blows warm.
2008 Forrester. Probably the worst evaporator leak I’ve ever seen.
Discussion
lol the ad on this post is for Gatorade and it says “LOSE MORE” and below it “lose more heat”
Gotta get that up quick before the shop dog/cat gets to it. Local shop tech didn't an they lost their old mouse catcher...
Some cats man... I had a cat lick the paint off a painting behind my back one time
Her tongue was blue from paint and didn't seem to give a shit about it either
I have another who won't eat meat if it's been smoked
If it exists, it gets the lick. 'tis cat law.
Mine keeps licking his reflection in the window!
I can see where that could be a concern but we don’t have those around our shop.
Looks like a hat
Paddingtons hat
Vader.
Back in the day (1992-1998), we replaced so many Subaru evap cores, and of course Subaru wanted you to replace the expansion valve and drier with ever job; man, they paid well, especially when it flopped over to customer pay. It’s was 80% evap/20% compressor when those rolled into the shop.
I will say, I have never had a colder AC after repairs than a Subaru, though…damn near throwing snowballs in the back seat.
When did Subaru switch from R12 to R134a?
1992-1993
Tech states refrigerant system blows goats.
Grab a UV light if you want to light the shop at night
If you didn't post this I was about to. Hit that with a blacklight and boom, instant light show.
Evaporator: evaporated
I was hoping that was dye and not algae.
Last summer I put a new compressor, TXV, condenser cause it's the drier, plus flushed the evaporator on a 2014 Forester. Had it running for like 10 minutes outside and I heard a BOOM! Saw what I assumed was steam and it must have blown a coolant hose. I'd already made sure both fans were working. So, wtf? No, it literally blew up the discharge hose! New compressor was defective and the clutch seized on.
That's one of those moments where you thank your creator for letting that happen when your face wasn't near it.
Lmaooo daaaamn. They always say check for signs at the drain tube, but this saved you a step
You need to drink more water. Probably should also stop pissing on customer cars.
How many times has dye been added to it?
We’ve switched to a 100% dye-based refrigerant to make leak detection more convenient.
The easiest evaporator diag can get, and easiest to explain to the customer. "You know how your system has a pressurized refrigerant in it? Well that's it on the floor".
Well go get the shop vac and put it back in their car
Around 1994; after that year, we were doing a lot of conversions for some time, both Chevy and Subaru.
That it does.
I wish I could post pictures in the comments. I have a picture of the right rear tire well on a 1234 Durango. It was the suction line on that one though. The customer got lucky with just a line repair instead of the evap core. If I remember right it was a 2019 and they had replaced the condenser 2 years ago
You gotta follow up on this one. If you do the job, show us the evap core, and more specifically how much decaying organic debris it took to perforate it.
For sure. Customer isn’t sure if they want to put the money in it yet but I’ll be sure to post that green monster if we do the work.
That looks like a Halo 1 flood map texture lol! 😂
Well that sure made the diag easy.
Usually for me it's such a small leak I am never 100% sure it's the evaporator until I actually get the thing out.
Mate, we've just invested in a Nitrogen pressure tester because I'm so sick of playing the "Ehh, that condenser is kinda oily. Or were the roads a bit wet?" game
Not a bad idea. That's how HVAC guys find leaks.
What's the cost on one of those things?
I also have one and it’s a game changer. It’s a small bottle and regulator from the welding supply store. Like $200 all in probably.
Sweet. I will have to look into that. How do you attach to the A/C lines? Junk set of R134 hoses and couplers?
I use a set of gauges and just charge it to 100psi. Spraying with dawn solution everywhere gives away leaks pretty quick.
Makes sense. Not sure why I didn't of using a set of gauges. Duh.
Thanks for the info, I am going to look into this.
My regulator has an 1/4” SAE flare which is the same fitting as my a/c gauge set has on its hoses so the regulator can connect directly to the a/c gauge set.
That’s my favourite thing to use to find leaks on equipment too.