A Good Reason to Remove Your Evaporator (Page 7/7)
2.5 JUL 06, 10:03 AM

quote
Originally posted by deceler8:

Was at the local Advance Auto tonight...R134 is now 19.99 a can.

Propane anyone ?




Hey guys, its 2018 and I picked up 3 cans of R134 at Mills Fleet Farm for $5 per can.
Oreillys still has it for 9.99. It pays to shop around if you want to save $20-$30.
Spadesluck JUL 06, 03:06 PM
I cleaned mine out a few weeks ago and I found a bunch of crap in mine as well. Just like others have posted up, thats what mine looked like for sure.
bjc 350 JUL 07, 12:54 AM
Sometime last driving season I found a dead mouse on the floor mat of my 84 SC car. No big deal, got him out of there, replaced the floor mats, looked under the seats for more mouse problems, nothing else found! Well, this spring we drove the car for a Sunday drive. Had to turn the heater on. Wasn't long before the windows were open because of the horrible dead mouse smell. So, finally today I pulled the heater motor to find the rear quarters of a dead mouse as well as a mouse nest in the fan squirrel cage. After some probing I found the rest of the mouse as well as a lot of junk against the evaporator. Cleaned everything out and sprayed, wiped down with Lysol. Hope this solves the stench problem, otherwise there may be a Fiero for sale. Not that anyone would want it with the nasty aroma.
fierofool JUL 07, 01:04 PM
There is a product called Zero Odor. Works wonders in home and auto.
Brian A MAY 17, 11:26 PM
Yeah, this thread is old, but Fiero a/c evaporators don't change.

I am currently restoring my a/c system. Because of this thread, I took the trouble to inspect my evaporator. I initially used an inspection mirror and light through the resistor pack opening.

Sheesh, what a mess. I am glad I looked.

No leaves or mouse nests but I had that thin layer of brown crud blocking airflow. I removed the accumulator, washer tank, resistor pack, blower fan and all the sheetmetal screws holding the cowling to the firewall. I removed the black "tar" stuff on the top and bottom of the evaporator tubing. I tried pulling the evaporator cowling away from the front bulkhead, as shown in earlier posts here, but I could NOT get it to pull away from the bulkhead on the passenger side. I could not figure out what was holding it up.

I could get enough room on the driver's side to slide in a light and illuminate the front side of the evaporator. I put my large inspection mirror into the resistor pack opening.

I tried rubbing off the brown crud off of the evaporator fins using a toothbrush (an old one; not my wife's) to gently brush the crud. It came off quite easily actually. I brushed some then used my small shopvac to remove debris as if fell to the bottom. Encouraged, I brushed more and more of the evaporator. Eventually, I added extra length to the toothbrush handle to get into the far corners of the evaporator still through the resistor pack opening. I could see via my inspection mirror that I had done the whole thing. I then blew off the entire evaporator with compressed air through the crack at the top of the cowling and through the resistor pack hole. In the end, the evaporator was startlingly clean.

I document these details to show that it is possible to clean the evaporator without removing much. It certainly was slow and a pain in the neck, but I am satisfied with the result. There is a ton of air blowing through the evaporator now.
Brian A MAY 20, 12:09 AM
I'm curious now.

How do all the leaves get into the evaporator box? Where is the unscreened opening?
Patrick MAY 20, 12:16 AM

quote
Originally posted by Brian A:

How do all the leaves get into the evaporator box? Where is the unscreened opening?



Some bits and pieces do make their way down through small openings in the cowl area... but I suspect the worst messes are created by mice that decide to set up shop after crawling up through the bottom of the cowl drain tubes.

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 05-20-2025).]

Brian A MAY 20, 12:20 AM

quote
Originally posted by Patrick:

Some bits and pieces do make their way down through small openings in the cowl area... but I suspect the worst messes are created by mice that decide to set up shop after crawling up through the bottom of the cowl drain tubes.


Several of the photos earlier in this thread show major accumulations of leaves. It doesn't look like mouse stuff. There must be a big hole somewhere.
Patrick MAY 20, 12:35 AM

quote
Originally posted by Brian A:

Several of the photos earlier in this thread show major accumulations of leaves. It doesn't look like mouse stuff.



Don't mice drag stuff to where they wish to make a home? I'm not saying that every leaf found inside a Fiero's HVAC system has been put there by a mouse, but I stand by what I earlier stated that the "worst messes" are created by mice.