I now have joined the ranks of the "just wanted to change the expansion valve.....and CRACKED THE DAMNED EVAP TUBE" crowd!!!! AAAAHHHGGGG!!!!
Will it ever end....so close, but no Emmy!!!
The above statement sez it all.....working to get that danged connector loose on the evap valve and trying to get a 1" wrench on that fitting was the demise.... I was carefully wiggling to get some wrench in place and the tube moved a bit....a bit toooo easily!
I thought, OK, hopefully I just bent the tube a bit....it's supposed to be thin material.... Well it is thin material and as I didn't want to believe.....the tube cracked..... Vacuum and pressure testing revealed the bad news.
No where in any documentation that I read, did it mention that that little round end piece on the AC housing came off! (It has the flapper in it to divert air....cable operated from the dash.) Would maybe have helped me....but too late now.....in the notes!!!!
I have been doing this ENTIRE job bass ackwards..... Instead of starting with the heater stuff, I should have jumped right to the EVAP and AC stuff...... that way, I wouldn't have had to waste so much time with the heater core clean out etc, in the event that this unit got busted....
Lesson learned is a repeat.... "replace all the cheap stuff while you are in there"! Drier is a given, Expansion Valve is the crap shoot. BUT on a car whose A/C hadn't been operative in perhaps two decades, I should have known better....but then I'm not a heavy AC mechanic either! I was hoping for the best.....got the worst!!!
I've heard good about Wilkinson's "improved alloy" unit, but not as it directly fits into a later car. (1974) The last thing I want, is to have to change connectors on anything.....! Or the heater valve.....again....!
Murphy's law sort of dictated that this would happen. I just filled the car with a 50/50 mix of coolant.....now I need to drain it out again, and drain the heater tubes to avoid getting coolant all over the carpets.
I've been using Dailey's (PanteraPlace) Evap' removal procedure as guidance, but it is penned for an early car, early dash. Nothing really applies exactly the same. But I have clues from this site, like "six bolts/fasteners" hold the dash in place....got them.....but getting the lower instrument cluster out of the way is not covered......sooooo, I'm drudging thru it, taking notes and will try and put together an updated procedure when I'm done.
SO, while I have the dash off, I will get at the pesky emergency flasher button with a new one, AND fix the wiper switch (what for???) as the switch puked it's contents all over the floor when I pulled it out.....
Erica strikes again!!!
Found a mystery under dash switch that switches nothing.......perhaps an old antenna? Can probably remove it or find some other reason to leave it.....
Next on the job, is dropping the steering column, and getting the speedo/tach units pulled, wires documented.....and hopefully lift the upper dash section out tomorrow! Supposed to rain buckets here, all day Monday, so good time to work on this job.
This job's uglier than a huge sale on a hot day at Walmart.....!!!
Cheers!!!
Steve