quote Originally posted by randye: Water separator screen. It's actually *glued* to one side of the evap. Throw it away, it's not needed:

Thanks much for the illustrated guide. You think maybe that screen is GM's attempt at a filter? But what good is a filter you can't easily replace.

quote Originally posted by jscott1: Thanks much for the illustrated guide. You think maybe that screen is GM's attempt at a filter? But what good is a filter you can't easily replace.

Nope. When the filter is not in place, air and water can blow through the core freely.

If the AC ices up, it will blow through the ducts when it thaws.

The screen is a water "deflector". When water goes through the evap core, it encounters the screen on the backside, which slows it to the point it can fall out of the air stream, and then drip out through the small port in the bottom of the AC box.

Hi All,

Just chatted with Jeremy at the Fiero Factory. We're going ahead with cleaning the fan but holding off cleaning the evap core. With Summer winding down I'll hold off on pulling everything out - the A/C would have to be purged / discharged and then refilled. I'll wait until Spring of next year to do all of this.

Stay Tuned

quote Originally posted by Synthesis: Nope. When the filter is not in place, air and water can blow through the core freely. If the AC ices up, it will blow through the ducts when it thaws. The screen is a water "deflector". When water goes through the evap core, it encounters the screen on the backside, which slows it to the point it can fall out of the air stream, and then drip out through the small port in the bottom of the AC box.

...In *theory*....
Actually, the way the Fiero ductwork is designed, it has numerous 90 degree turns before the air ever gets out of the vents.
In fact, the first 90 degree turn is smack in front of the evaporator discharge side.
All those turns in the ducts means that it is *highly* unlikely that you will ever have water spraying out of your vents.
I've had that water separator screen out of my system all summer, (in super humid Florida), and not had a single droplet has come flying out of any vents.
With the A/C on max, the car will leave a nice large puddle of condensate water under it while standing still, so I know it's dessicating the air in the cabin, (as well as outdoors...).

I think you're plenty safe in leaving the darn thing out, but if you *must* have it in there I suppose a few spots of hot melt glue will do the trick for gomming it back onto the evap core.

Got the car back from the Fiero Factory. Jeremy and his dad cleaned out the fan - they said it actually looked pretty good. However, they did find several leaks at the firewall. They resealed those areas and the vents are blowing out a lot more air.

Come spring time I'm going to have everything cleaned and this gives us time to look into putting another fan in.

Even thought the ducts have 90º turns that will allow the water to stop at that point GM put that screen in many cars as a proven method to keep the mud and mildew out of the ducts from standing water in them. It generates a common point for all of the water drops to stop at.

quote Originally posted by randye: ...In *theory*.... Actually, the way the Fiero ductwork is designed, it has numerous 90 degree turns before the air ever gets out of the vents. In fact, the first 90 degree turn is smack in front of the evaporator discharge side. All those turns in the ducts means that it is *highly* unlikely that you will ever have water spraying out of your vents. I've had that water separator screen out of my system all summer, (in super humid Florida), and not had a single droplet has come flying out of any vents. With the A/C on max, the car will leave a nice large puddle of condensate water under it while standing still, so I know it's dessicating the air in the cabin, (as well as outdoors...). I think you're plenty safe in leaving the darn thing out, but if you *must* have it in there I suppose a few spots of hot melt glue will do the trick for gomming it back onto the evap core.

i've had water come through my vents but i don't have ac.