Hello,

While in Florida, my A/C went out. I recharged the system with dye at Tire Kingdom. It blew Cold Air for half a day and it went shut. I took it back to Tire Kingdom and they said that there is no leak. The tech said that my evap core is gone. Then he tells me that there are two of them: front and rear. He said the fix will include replacing the evap core, dryer receiver, and Orpheus (sp?) tube for a total of $1600. That's a lot of money. I understand that to replace the front evap core one must take out the whole front instrument panel. The tech couldn't tell me whether the front or rear evap core is shut. It looks from the AllDataDIY website that the rear evap core is a hell of a lot easier to replace. Is there anyway I can find out which evap core is faulty?

The bummer here is that I had the extended warranty on the van until 100,000. Right now I am at 107,000. Plus, last July, my A/C stopped working and the warranty covered the repair. It included charging the system with DYE, and the fix on the second visit.

Thanks in advance

 

I have serious doubts that either evaperator is leaking. An '05 van has very common leak areas, one is a big rock hole in the condenser. That would be easy for you to spot. The other 2 are in the same area, the underbody lines run to the rear of the van and connect to another set of tubes that run up through the floor to the rear evaperator. Either the underbody tubes leak, the extension tubes leak or both. Look at the junction under the right rear of the bumper and see if you can see dye on the junction area. If you get lucky and it's the underbody lines, they are covered by a recall and would be replaced at no charge.
And welcome to the forum

 

Thanks for the reply. But the Tire Kingdom guy did state that there was no leak detected whatsoever. Since there was no leak, the tech stated, it has to be the Evap Core, etc.

 

a year ago, i had a leak in caravan 06. mechanic said leak was infront evaporator. said it was slow leak, and freon would last a year. he put a can in.
got home and saw puddle that last thread described below the back fender where the expansion valve and evaporator is. put evaporator in and expansion valve, fixed problem

first link below is what instrument panel looks like when pulled. Second and third are alternative to buying back evaporator. wish i would have know it when mine went out. lot less in cost.

friend and me put evaporator in his jeep this week to replace evaporator and dryer. evaporator was about 100 and dryer about 45. we never removed dash before but did it in about 8 hours. didn't pull whole dash/instrument panel one all fastners and bolts pulled we tied rope to dash and pulled it up high enough to remove havac.

really check it out---is it the front evaporator. small leaks can be recharged if you don't have fat walled and will last for awhile. i gave you some alternatives.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...ics-fixed.html

http://www.autoacsystems.com/fasttra...inerepair.html

http://www.streetrodguys.com/

 

might want to check the high pressure hose. it runs from the compressor to the condenser. a friend had the same problem. only after he vacuumed and recharged the system did we find the leak. i reached down to check the hose, it was real moist. but when i bent it slightly it ballooned up at the crimp to the hard line going to the compressor. dodge had the part in stock, fairly cheap, under 30 bucks. they also said that was a recurring failure. give it a look see.

 

That issue is with the new body style...'08 and newer. That's how the aftermarket works, if you can't find a leak, it's got to be the evaperator because you can't see it. I've repaired the a/c on hundreds of these vans and have yet to see a bad evaperator (front or rear) If they put dye in the system, there should be traces somewhere. If it only last a few hours, big leak. Check the rear lines, very common big leak.

 

There is a recall for the rear evaporator for 2005 caravan with Stow n Go, wonder if ur car is involved.

worse comes to worse, I've seen people completely block off/removed the rear A/C system by cutting the line and JB welded it.

 

No there is not, the recall is on the underbody lines. The warrenty for the rear evaperator was extended to 7/70 for the '06 and '07 model years. There was never a recall on any evaperator.

And for $50, you can get a kit to seal off the rear lines so they are still able to be repaired in the future.

 

Additional Info: I just got off the phone with the dealer and found out that my van is not part of the recall that Tizzy1 mentions. I also asked him to check what exactly they fixed when I had AC issues last year. He told me that they replaced the front Expansion Valve, Receiver Drier, and the Condenser. Will this lead me to believe that my issue would most likely be in the rear?

Thank you all for responding

 

If you are on good terms with your dealer, have them run the F01 labor operation on your VIP and see if it's covered, bet it is.