97 Town & Country w/ rear air

I found some good help with getting the evaporator core changed on another thread, but now I am trying to run down the parts.

It was suggested to replace the heater core at the same time.

Question #1: I was advised to change the A/C "drier", but I see none in the parts catalogs. Is the Dehydrator the same thing? It's quite expensive ($300), more than the evaporator core.

Question #2: Where to buy GENUINE Mopar parts (without going to the dealer and paying list). I have looked at several online and it looks like they all use the same catalog software - does that mean these are really the same people or do just 1 or 2 companies offer this type of web software?

Dodgeparts.com and Moparpartz.com were reco'd on this forum.

Prices are similar - MoparPartz.com a little cheaper, but MoparPartz.com does not have the evaporator seals.

Here is the list of parts I have been advised to get:
1) A/C Evaporator
2) Upper & Lower Evap seal
3) Heater Core
4) Expansion Valve
5) Drier

Any and all help appreciated.

thanks.

 

are you doing the rear evap core or Front?
Whats broken? and we r going into winter, why fix the A/C now?

For to sake of saving money, I would suggest to just change the Evap core and seal, Seal should come with Evap core on purchase, other wise, it will be just a Universal O-Ring of the right size.
Inspect heator core for leak, if no leak found, Flush and reuse it.
Expansion valve does fail, But it is OK now, leave it alone. Becase if it fails in the future, you can replace it easily under the hood, While Evaporator is A LOT of work.
The drier... well, it is a good idea to replace it, but it shouldnt be a big deal even if you leave it alone.

Basically, I recommend only fix what's broken, and inspect other Item while you are there.

 

how old is vehicle and miles, that would make my decision, your doing the work yourself so all you have is time and parts, we normally tell our customers if they have older vehicle and miles if they want we can change heater core while were there, since it is a big job to change them, other wise a year or so the heater core leaks and wow, they have to do it again. when I get ready to change my evaporator in my jeep I am changing both while it got it out, heater core cant be that much, just my opinion

 

This the front evaporator in a vehicle that also has rear air.

1997 - 176,000 miles.

Right now I have the time and a shop to do it in. Come spring, I won't.

thanks.

 

I have an old 97 w/almost 300,000 and have had problems with the front A/C for years now. I am pretty sure its the blend door that's causing my discharge temps to be consistently 10 degrees warmer up front than the rear vents. (replaced the EXV but no change)

I replaced the compressor years ago and had to get the filter drier from the dealer, the AutoZone part wasn't the same. Anyway, gettin back to the topic.....

It would be great if you could document your job when you do it. (Pic's!) I have been told by anyone knowledgable that its a major evolution! I even seen one GCV in the shop waiting for the part and it looked like they disassembled the entire inside dash to get at the evaporator.

Good Luck, Hope to hear more from you!

 

The heater core can be replaced without removing the dash so if you don't want to do it now, your choice. Most evaperators now don't come with the foam seals around the evaperator so you will need those. I replace the hvalve when I do one, have had many issues and it will be much easier to do it at the same time. Definitly replace the filter drier too. Good luck, it is much easier than it looks and there is a thread on here with pics that should help you out.

 

Well, job's done. 2 dash screws that I can't find where they go (extra parts!).

You think you are segregating them enough as you take them out, but no such thing as enough when the project drags out to a week.

Heater core turned out to be wrong one, inlets off by about an inch. Didn't notice it when we first looked in the box.

Old core looked great, and yes, appears we can change later. Was first told it was a 5 hour job...

My evaporator core came with the expansion valve and all the foam; genuine Mopar

But, the don't even box the darn thing so tubing is out of shape, need to carefully bend to match the old one.

 

Documentation already done:

http://www.scsc.k12.in.us/mahoney/vanfix/

Pick up the document here too:

https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx...F9A29CBE4A!103

Take heed of this suggestion too, especially if you have rear air; the middle stud in the firewall has 2 nuts, one on each side of the bracket holding the tubing going to the rear.

For the removal of the HVAC unit mr_mahoney’s instructions are great and therefore I did not duplicate that effort in the file above. I will suggest though that if you’re going to tackle this job make sure you have a ratcheting 10mm box-end wrench for the HVAC studs at the firewall. I also removed the alternator bracket (not the alternator itself) to give me more room.