Okay, I posted this to the watercooled ng a few months back, but I don't think I posted it here. Sorry if I did, but I'm still looking for advice from anyone who's done this. Car is an 89 Gli 16v.
At the beginning of October I had my a/c system serviced. The guy replaced the uppper schraeder (sp?) valve, which was leaking, and refilled the system. All was fine and chilly until October 22. One day it cooled, the next day it didn't. I took it back to the same place this weekend and they tested it. He says it's completely out of freon, so he adds some (for testing purposes, I assume) but can't find any leaks under the hood. He points out that the compressor might be leaking as it has a slight, dark stain on it. Then he puts the probe in the center dash vents inside the car, and it goes off like a video game. His conclusion, evaporator needs replacing. He estimates 5-6 hours labor and $3-400 (off the top of his head) for the part. I tell him thanks, but no thanks. A vw dealer quoted me $315 for the part and $580 for labor. Ouch. I've found I can mail order the evaporator core for less than $150. I want to do this myself. I've pulled the middle console and lower dashes before, and I'm confident I could remove the entire dash and instrument cluster, if necessary. Unfortunately, the bentley tells you pretty much jack-squat when it comes to A/C issues. Where is it located in an A2? Center, passenger side, behind the glove box, behind the heater core? Do you need to remove the entire dash to get to the evaporator? I've read in an old post that it's possible to pull it from beneath, without loosening the nuts holding the dash on through the firewall. Anyone done this? If you don't need to pull the whole dash, do you need to pull the heater core, or its box? Do you disconnect the lines to it from inside the dash or on the other side of the firewall in the engine compartment? Do I need anything else: hoses, o-rings, etc? How much is a compressor and should I bother replacing it at the same time (while the system is in its currently evacuated state)? Should I maybe just replace o-rings on it, instead? I don't know that it's bad, just what this guy pointed out, plus I've apparently been running it while low on freon. What else should I replace while I've got the dash apart? Sorry for the long post, but I want to do this before it gets hot(ter) here in Texas. I've lived through 110+ degree days without a/c in my previous car, don't want to do it again anytime soon. Thanks, Brian 1989 Jetta GLi Wolfsburg 16v -- The 21st century begins on January 1, 2001. _____________ List Sponsor: http://www.netsville.com To remove yourself from this list, send mail to [email protected] with 'unsubscribe a2_16v' in the body of your message See us on the web at http://www.a2-16v.com Visit the 16V Homepage at http://www.gti16v.org
