[VY] Cleaning VY air conditioning evaporator without removing dash

[thephilth]

Thanks edals, gave this a go and an alternative to cutting. What I did notice though,was as mine is a Statesman, it has that part blocked and you cant access the evaporator from the fan hole. What I did discover though, was that this can also be observed through the fan speed resistor cutout by removing the fan speed resistor and poking your head up under the dash and with a torch, looking in. I will advise that the fan was out at this stage.
It might save someone from cutting unnecessarily by confirming that your fins are blocked first, Mine is super blocked! The OP is right though if your not blowing air thru, then this is probably the cause (thankyou).I will most likely be cutting and following the OPs advice.

 

[BOA32]

on any setting hot/cold or high/low fan setting i can only feel my aircon when driving at about 80kmh with my window down about 5-10mm. its cold enough but it just stopped blowing all of a sudden, will your procedure fix my problem do you reckon? i have a VU V6 3.8L STORM UTE. Also sometimes when i start my ute the thermo fans come on randomly whether the engines hot or cold? would this have anything to do with it?

 

[uniacidz]

on any setting hot/cold or high/low fan setting i can only feel my aircon when driving at about 80kmh with my window down about 5-10mm. its cold enough but it just stopped blowing all of a sudden, will your procedure fix my problem do you reckon? i have a VU V6 3.8L STORM UTE. Also sometimes when i start my ute the thermo fans come on randomly whether the engines hot or cold? would this have anything to do with it?

No

Sounds like low gas.

When its too low, the air con will not activate and fans will not run also, as air con not activated.

 

[BOA32]

should the vents still blow inside the car with the air con button off and just the fan going inside the car

 

[uniacidz]

should the vents still blow inside the car with the air con button off and just the fan going inside the car

The HVAC unit will still work, fans will blow on inside of car and such but the air con compressor will come on and turn off if low gas and coincide with the engine thermo fans

Does the internal fans turn off when the issue happens ?

 

[BOA32]

thanks heaps for your help mate. The internal fans wont blow at all "with or without" the aircon button turned on

 

[BOA32]

the compressor does still engage when i turn aircon on

 

[uniacidz]

thanks heaps for your help mate. The internal fans wont blow at all "with or without" the aircon button turned on

Ahhh thats a different issue again.

Low vacuum somewhere.
Is a vacuum valve behind the engine block (on LS1 anyway, should be similar from memory to 3.6L), looks small and that valve is known to die over time as the vacuum hose

Hopefully is that

Check that, is a one way valve

Or the fan simply is dying in the HVAC or some other evil gremlin is at work

Oh and when the internal fans stop blowing to.you, is it blowing against the windscreen instead?

 

[BOA32]

Na man the fan doesnt blow anywhere at all even with settings on hi, is this the one way vacuum valve you was talking about earlier? It has coolant running through it, I think it might be the heater tap :undead:

 

[skamme]

Just to add to this post, I wanted to check mine, But had no hole saws.
I removed the blower fan, 3 screws and connector, and just stuck my phone inside and took a picture, Its a fair size of a hole and can get a spray hose and hand up inside, instead of cutting up the dash, this will give you more of the condenser to spray. Even one of those weed sprayers would work well i think. Mines not all that dirty thankfully.

Thanks all for this info. I too have had little air coming through the air con, and having recently cleaned out my GU patrol with spectacular results have jsut done our vy wagon. We were getting lots of air noise from the evaporator box, and much reduced flow. I cleaned by removing the fan assembly and the other electrical unit fitted in the box for cooling (not sure what it is? capacitor or something? ) and with a normal water nozzle on the hose pulse cleaned at all sorts of angles, giving it time to soak and then sprayed it our with compressed air. The water is probably all that is needed, and a phone on flash up the hole confirms what needs to be cleaned more. Hole saw method may give better access to that top rear section of the evaporator, but the difference now with mine is very much worth the effort. I also lubricated the bushes and cleaned the fan assembly while it was out. Cheers all. Go the commy))