13 Cadillac CTS ac disaster.

[MrMoody]

Originally Posted by 1978elcamino
Moral of the story, if your AC compressor begins making noise, replace it before it turns in to this kind of repair.

(shudder) Yeah, this is enough to make you consider a compressor to be a preventative maintenance item. You could replace it every 2 years and come out ahead ...

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted by Jarlaxle
Originally Posted by Fotoflame
Sorry that you had to get this repaired. I think a lot of cars have the evaporator crammed between the firewall and dashboard and it's a nightmare to get to it. I have a 2000 Mercedes E-Class and the procedure to get to the evaporator is similar in scope to what you have pictured here. I pray I never have to do this.


Jeep Cherokee. Total catastrophe to get to the heater box...about 10 hours labor, IIRC. (Day and a half for the mechanic, half of it spent standing on his head under the dash, and I think he might still twitch every time he sees a red XJ.)

Our dash guy can have that evap or heater done by noon! No leftover parts or new rattles either.

 

[JTK]

Ugh.. Man I hate to see this.

This type of issue isn't even limited to fancy, mega optioned vehicles anymore. I know on later model Nissan Versas, the dash, steering wheel and brake/accelerator pedal assembly has to come out to remove/replace the HVAC blower. They use doorman quality motors on the HVAC and radiator cooling fan motors. Not just a Nissan thing, it's everywhere now. Things that used to last the life of the vehicle can fail in 2yrs and require this level of grief to repair.

 

[tiger862]

And for this reason I will buy extended warranty on my Caravan. I plan to keep it for a long time.

2018 Grand Caravan
12k miles

 

[antonmnster]

The dew point was 72 on Monday in Minneapolis. The air temp was only 50 today. My compressor spins from about May until October.

 

[Gasbuggy]

$2500 isn't a bad deal for the amount of work

 

[diyjake]

Originally Posted by Chris142
Originally Posted by diyjake
When something like this happens how do you remove all of the metal inside the ac system?

Ac flush, high pressure filtered air followed by brake cleaner. But you must open every ac component up to do so. You cant flush through an expansion valve so it has to come off.


I take it this isn't something a DIYer can do himself because of the need to use special machines?

 

[MrMoody]

Originally Posted by diyjake
I take it this isn't something a DIYer can do himself because of the need to use special machines?

If there's any charge left, you can take it in and have it emptied, that's really the only expensive equipment. Once it's empty you can do all the work yourself, then take it in to have it vacuumed & charged professionally, or use your own vacuum pump and charging set.

 

[JustinH]

I've never seen an expansion valve not on the firewall.

Reminder not to buy a Cadillac.

 

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted by JustinH
I've never seen an expansion valve not on the firewall.

Reminder not to buy a Cadillac.


Japanese brands loved to that in the 90's, My 2000 Avalon calls for 7.1 hours to R&R the TXV.

 

[WyrTwister]

Do they use an expansion valve or an orfice ?

 

[MarkM66]

Originally Posted by clinebarger
Originally Posted by JustinH
I've never seen an expansion valve not on the firewall.

Reminder not to buy a Cadillac.


Japanese brands loved to that in the 90's, My 2000 Avalon calls for 7.1 hours to R&R the TXV.


My '01 Civic's is located behind the firewall. A real pain to remove. So I took a chance on not replacing it when it needed a compressor. Luckily it worked fine.

 

[Saabist]

Very nasty. On my Saab 9000 the heater core, evaporator, expansion valve, and blower are all under the hood behind a false firewall. It's a bit of a pain to work back there but a picnic compared to this Caddy!

 

[super20dan]

don't buy any caddy product -all junk havnt built a good car since the 70.s . v8 diesel v8-6-4 4300ht -and the best for last-the northstar.

 

[diyjake]

Originally Posted by MrMoody
Originally Posted by diyjake
I take it this isn't something a DIYer can do himself because of the need to use special machines?

If there's any charge left, you can take it in and have it emptied, that's really the only expensive equipment. Once it's empty you can do all the work yourself, then take it in to have it vacuumed & charged professionally, or use your own vacuum pump and charging set.


As far as replacing A/C components a DIYer should be able to do that and I've done that.

What I meant is can a DIYer flush out the a/c system after a a/c compressor locked up and metal got into the system, don't you need a special machine to flush the system?

 

[Anduril]

No, AutoZone rents the flush gun which you hook up to an air compressor to provide the pressure. Fill the tank with denatured alcohol and go to town. Blow the lines out with compressed air once you've flushed the goop out, and pull a vacuum once everything is reassembled to suck out anything that remains. I've done it on 3 different vehicles now.

 

[diyjake]

Originally Posted by Anduril
No, AutoZone rents the flush gun which you hook up to an air compressor to provide the pressure. Fill the tank with denatured alcohol and go to town. Blow the lines out with compressed air once you've flushed the goop out, and pull a vacuum once everything is reassembled to suck out anything that remains. I've done it on 3 different vehicles now.


So you have to open up / take apart as many components of the a/c system and blow them out individually before installing new parts such as the AC compressor, receiver/dried ect.

use something like this? https://www.amazon.com/FJC-2710-Sys...mp;psc=1&refRID=TDST5YC3VRM34PJBB6G7