2001 Silverado Evaporator Core

[Tbone4LFE]

I own a 2001 Silverado 1500 4x4 5.3L and for about 4 months I noticed the ac slowly blowing lighter and not quite as cold sometimes I recharged it twice and had no problems but obviously knew there was a leak somewhere. So I took a leak tester and found through every vent and under my dash the leak gun went crazy. It seemed as if it was my evaporator core since the rest of the system showed dry. So I took on the horrible task of ripping EVERYTHING out of my interior basically to get my evap. core out. Does anyone have any tips on re-installing this part since it was incredibly tight to take out and also is there anything else I can check just to verify it is this part before I go through the trouble of re-installing everything only for it not to work?? Any help is very appreciated

[bill190]

Oh what fun!

 

The instructions for my car to replace the evaporator start with... Remove steering column, Remove dash board, etc.

 

Anyway the evaporator core should be the ONLY plumbing/tubing inside the vehicle which would contain refrigerant. So there couldn't be anything else leaking refrigerant inside the vehicle so long as the connectors for the evaporator poke out through the firewall.

 

You should be able to see into the evaporator and compare the new and old to see that they look alike. Then hold the connectors together for both to be sure they are both the same size.

 

While you have it all torn apart, be sure to vacuum well inside of all the duct work you can get to.