PLEASE HELP!! - 2005 Prius A/C Evaporator Problems

Your post is pretty clear. Knowing there's a leak the dealer said they could re-charge and you could maybe get another 12 months or so. Operative word being maybe. There re-charge to full made the leak get much bigger no fault of there's as it was a crap shoot anyway. Then you say why did they bother charging it?

Why did you OK it? You knew it was leaking. You rolled the dice and crapped out.

No do not buy a can of freon and add it as it does not contain the correct oil used in a Prius and you may just damage the compressor next.

No there is no stop leak additive.

You did not list your location as there may be some Indie AC guys locally to you that can replace the e-coil at a better rate than the dealer. There's a few ac guys on here. Nothing special about a Prius e-coil. They do make an updated e-coil to replace e-coils under a TSB for mold issues. See the TSB section for the new updated part number.

How many miles on car?

 

Indie=Independent i.e.: Someone who is knowledgeable of the Prius system and has the proper tools to repair the system to Toyota specification.

 

Indie is an Independent auto repair place.

Oh just bought the car. Oh boy. Everytime a post takes this arc it takes us a bunch of posts to find out the car was in a front end wreck and has a salvage title.

Yes?

It doesn't enlarge the hole but it does put the system under pressure.A leak never gets better
on its own. Especially one under great pressure like an ac system.

Locally ICE COLD AIR does a good job. There a franchise. I've used my local guy a few times on my other cars and they were straight up.

Your dealer detected the leak probably using a freon detector. It squawks if it smells freon. They saw no dye leaking anywhere and then last resort stuck the detector under the dash and it squawked. Thats about as far as they went I bet because further investigation requires $$$$.

Don't waste anymore time just take it too a place like ICE COLD AIR and for $99 they'll tell you whats up. They will charge it back up correctly (they always use dye now everytime they charge a car) and check for leaks. May be just a loose fitting. May not even be the e-coil because new car dealers are liars. Forget the dealer its to expensive. At ICA at least they'll tell you if they can repair it. There pretty good up here and in Tampa too as that's all they do is car ac.

There's a few posts here about people replacing the e-coil themselves here on PC.

Put your location in your signature box please.

 

question? #1: the loud buzzing sound , was that coming from your a/c compressor?.
question? #2: when you shut off the a/c and using a light do you see a light gray film coating on the inside surface of the sight glass?.

Most of your question were answered in the above post. If have not already damaged your compressor you may if you keep running it low on refrigerant. ( DID ANY ONE EVER TELL YOU THIS ABOUT YOUR PRIUS A/C COMPRESSOR!.) Low refrigerant = low oil return to the compressor FACT #1. Low refrigerant = no cold refrigerant return back to the ELECTRIC HOT MOTOR WINDINGS FACT!! not to mention the tiny roller bearing that spin past 6000 RPMs.

Yes the TECH that said that it was a slow leak , thinking it took 1 year + to leak out the first time and if he did not pick up a large leak this time using his electronic refrigerant leak detector this time I could see how the TECH would give it another shot just to get you through the summer to build up some cash for the job, BUT! some time a leak can become large and when the TECH recharges it and test it there is no leak. When the customer drives off and the a/c system is vibrating from motion down the road and the metal parts are expanding and contracting from cold and pressure through many cycles this is when a leak can reveal it self.

When you have the evaporator replaced have them replace the dryer sock to you can see photos on my photo album of what a clean dryer sock and a dirty one looks like self explanatory. Two other bad thing are taking place many TECHs or customers do not know about. When your A/C refrigerant is low or overcharged the compressor works harder drawing MORE AMPS from your EV battery cycle it many more time shorting it's life and heating it up. Then there is the added bonus of lower MPG because of this. It is a vicious circle you are in a hot humid climate, that nice cool air inside your cabin of the car is what get drawn in over the hot battery cells to cool the EV battery down, YES?. Oh but wait there is no cool cabin air because the a/c is not working or there are the customers who don't want a/c because they believe it is worth higher MPG and just sweat a little, but they are not the only this getting HOT!. This is just the short and easy explanation non- techie ( keep it simple) need I say more.
I'm worried about your compressor and the extra expensive repair this will cause to your bank account!.
For those of you who think the Prius a/c is advanced wait until you see the Tesla compressor mounting place and the Volt cooling heat exchanger for the coolant for the batteries. I'v been working on much more technically complicated and much more expensive HVAC units that have three small compressors instead of one big one and do both heating and cooling at the same time in different places. The a/c on cars now for the Hybrids are just chils's play compared to whats coming.

 

#1: if it is gray " I could not see clearly" that's not so good but it still can live.
#2: did I hear you say that noise was not the compressor but a electric motor? what electric motor? I think you should have some one turn on and off the a/c as you are under the hood to find exactly what is making that noise. But I am aware some cameras mic pick up certain frequencies and when played back sound much louder. Yes if it was a warm day 78F+ and your doors or windows were open , your were NOT on recycle air and had ran the a/c for 5 + min and you still have that many bubbles even I would agree it MAY? be low. I am not a advocate of using the sight glass to determine if a a/c system is full or low unless it is a extreme case. I don' instruct a untrained person were to place hands to feel the TEMP of lines as this is dangerous and one mans warm is another mans hot same goes for cold. after many many years I can place my hand on something and tell within + or - 2 F what the temp is, and blowing air within + or - 1F and the humidity just by walking into a room. all this is taken into account when diagnosing a/c something not picked up from a book, YouTube or in most class rooms for a/c.

The leak for sure you need to take care of. the rest of it is not one of the things you do with out seen and touching it myself.
You did a great job using the videos . I would love to use a gas analyzer to test the refrigerant to see if it is 100% R134a with no air mixed in it. I find this to be a vary big problem.
good luck, but im afraid no matter what way you go it's not a cheap fix . I was at the MACS convention in Florida this last Jan or Feb I meat many TECHs and shop owners at that time If I remember a name of the only one I thought sounded like he know what he was doing by the way he answered questions I asked it post the name. MACSW = http://www.macsw.org

 

The loose fitting your hoping for is the connection from the lines to the expansion valve and from the other side of the expansion valve to the evaporator. I have seen this one time in the last few years out of maybe 18 to 20+ evaporators on the Prius. ether way the dash still has to come off 7hr labor. the only difference is the cost of the evaporator, and the expansion valve connected to the evaporator. That's your choices. You also said you see gray under the glass and that only comes from one place and that's not good. In that gray also are vary vary tiny metal flakes. when they pull out the evaporator have them pour some of the oil out of the old evaporator it should be crystal clear. At the same time replace the $19 expansion valve and the dryer sock in the condenser.

 

Greetings:
I am looking for detail instructions as to how to replace an expansion valve on a 2005 Prius. Thank You.

 

Its not your average DIY job. you a go to TechStream at Toyota pay for one day subscription use and down load all the instructions

 

I have a very similar problem on a 2007 Prius. The whole bit ... dealer recharges (without my request - says they did as a courtesy)...suspect a small evaporator leak ... ran 3-4 months ... warm air ... I recharged with DuPont oil-free R134a ... ran another month or so ... recharged again ... little improvement ... saw the same gray tone in refrigerant (probably from compressor - this was actually present after the dealer recharge). Faced with a $3000 bill if the dealer fixes it. Car still runs great (107k)/53-55mpg. How did you solve your problem? I'm thinking about buying all new A/C system parts and replacing it myself, but have not found a repair manual that sufficiently covers the details, but I did stumble on to the Techstream (TIS?) site here. Anyone with comments re changing out the A/C system, locating quality parts (not at dealer prices, refrigerant oil, etc), repair instructions, cautions re voltage and setting off an air-bag?

 

I have been looking for a detailed U-tube post on how to remove & replace the evaporator core in my '05 Prius. How much of the dash needs to be taken apart ? Can anybody help me, please ?

Thanks in advance.

 

Actually, the R134a refrigerant molecules are much, much smaller than the old R12 molecules are. These molucles are so small that they can actually leak through good fittings and hoses. Over 10 years, being a little low on refrigerant ,it is not Freon, just saying, is not that big of a deal. Now, if your mechanic from AC Repair Service does a proper work.

 

Removing the Evap Core in a Gen2 Prius is a royal PITA. "book time" is 6-7 hours but plan on taking at least twice as long if you've never done it before. Before you start, you need to be 100% sure there is a problem. Have an AC shop inject UV dye into the system and charge with R134. Use the AC for a day or two, then look for "dye specs in the dash vents" with a UV light. If the core is leaking the dye will tell you.

 

Like the dye specks in the dash vents.

 

You can also have a shop evacuate the system, charge with nitrogen and listen for the leak. If it is a major evaporator leak you'll hear it escaping via the discharge tube under the car.

 

AC is not a DIY job, unless you are in possession of some type of factory training and documentation.

A sight glass on an R134a system is worthless in terms of getting the charge correct, works AWESOME on the older (pre '94) R12 systems

The dealer violated FEDERAL LAW by charging a leaking system, that is a huge no-no, yet done all the time because people want the AC but not the maintenance and repair expense that goes with it.

Either have a qualified shop diagnose and correctly repair it, or go without. Other options will do more damage than good and be more costly.