hi guys, i have a 98 dodge caravan with a ac problem!! every time i refill the AC with frion, after 2 days the cold air goes away!!! A mechanic tel me it was the evaporator that had a leak and it has to be replace!! he tell me that i had to take out all the dash and the steering wheel to replace the evaporator!!! is this true!! where exacly is the evaporator??? he was charging me 1200 dollars for this job!! is any way i can do it myself!????! thanks for any help!!

 

Thats true behind the dash takes time to do i doubt u will be able to do it with out any issues afterwords. 1200 sounds about right. The evap is 400 for a mopar one. If i live in the ATL area i will do it for less. I do this sota thing everyday.

 

If it is the evaporator, it is indeed a nasty job. I would certainly want to know for sure that it is the evaporator, since that is fairly rare--ask him how he knows for sure since there are many more likely places than that. Although I'm not usually in favor of sealants, there are cans of A/C sealer that will plug pretty good size holes without plugging the system. You can buy them at most discount car parts suppliers and you can inject it yourself. I would try that before spending $1000

 

if dye as added into the system u can look at teh drain tube with a dye light and see it comming out if the leak is near where the oil can get out. Or u can smell it comming out of the vents after it has been sitting for a little while.

 

Hopefully this thread is old enough that I'm not highjacking it or anything.

I'm in the process of removing the Evap core from my 98 G. Caravan...I assume the same as any 98 Caravan, or 96-99 Caravan for that matter. I noticed Dodge Tech posted a step-by-step of the process for a 2000. Is this process similar or identical? I've done a lot of A/C work but never had the priveledge of pulling a dash out to pull the evap core. Luckily any leak I've had to fix has been on the high side of the system.

Ray

 

Maybe I should have spell checked that before submitting. Looks ok though