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just for us diesel peeps, something we tend to overlook, the quality of the air we breathe inside of our cab. too often we compare the type of air filter, the type of cleaner we use on our " drop in" filter. what about the dirty air inside our cab?

i recently purchased the valvoline brand A/c ULTRA FOAM EVAPORATOR CLEANER indirectly via MG man, who is a rep for the local valvoline agent.

Cost: $128.00 for two canisters:
canister #1: Foam cleaner
canister #2: deodoriser

here's my evaluation:

the products: (sorry, photo refused to tilt)







Where it begins. cannister #1 comes with a hose extension. one end affixes to the can, the other goes into the drain line of the evaporator housing. i pushed it in as much as i could.



hose being attached to the top of the can



lil directions. very simple



the result!! i didnt have a drip pan, so icollected just a sample in the cannister cover. damn! is this what i've been breathing in?

the deodoriser was pretty straight forward, but to be honest, it wasnt that impressive since it left a rubbing alcohol scent out of the vents. but, then again it did deodorise the system. an important point to note too, the cfm of air output out of the vents, especially at high speed, noticeably improved.

if you all want to purchase, please contact mg man on the forum. i fully endorse this product, especially for us with kids.

TL out.......

a/c now works better everyday. beating the 12pm sun

This is what your evaporator looks like dirty.

Dirty vs Clean

We have never seen a product that can clean the evaporator PROPERLY without removal. It might only touch the surface a little bit.

Cabin air filters are very important to replace when they are finished doing their job. They are not made to wash & re-install.

A dirty evaporator needs to be removed, cleaned through the cores & replaced.

agreed. the best way is the remove and clean. many vehicles dont come with the filter though, hence the reason evaporators get so dirty. i am just afraid of touching a dirty evaporator. in my experiece they tend to leak after a while.

king cool, wouldn't regular cleaning with that thing team loco used here prevent the evaporator from getting so bad that it necessitates removal? I thinking preventative maintenance here

i think you both have valid points. question is, would the valvoline cleaner do a thorough cleansing of a evaporator that has never been cleaned? i would lean on the side of yes. that cleaner seems to have completely foamed my evap, now the amt of air coming through the blower has significantly increased.

i guess for an old vehicle that never had the evap cleaned, a thorough manual cleaning is best, then it could be maintaqined by using the valvoline cleaner

I was looking for a product like this for a while now... thanks TL for the post.

My Ranger does not come with a filter for the A/C and since the 'snake incident' I've altogether disabled the external vent. I usually pull down the blower every year and spray some sort of foaming cleaner (like oxy-clean) on the the evaporator and use a garden hose to flush out the system. Then I use a small webcam equipped with LED's to ensure that the system is indeed clean.

I know it's a little overboard, but if you guys actually got a good look at what comes out of these things, you might just consider stripping down the whole A/C system to clean it.

You had a snake in your evaporator? Cool!

The pic shows a Tiida evaporator core, not an old car if that is what you are referring to. Getting to the evap to clean from the blower will be a better job but still you need to understand that these evaporators are about 4" thick. The amount of dirt that is stuck in the core, any other method is a waste at our standards. After all, our customers pay for a proper job not DIY. We remove the evap off the vehicle & use a pressure washer along with cleaning chemicals to get rid of all the accumulation. If you should see with your own eyes the cleaning process & the quantity of pollutants that accumulates & washes off maybe you'll understand that although with your DIY process it may seem as if the evap gets cleaned but that is probably only 1/4 of it. Think...what about the ducting behind the evap???? You can't even reach that. At the end it is what you are comfortable with & what your mind perceives as.....well....clean!

yup, i understand that. removal is a good option. at the end of the day, the valvoline product is probably a good option for maintenance of the evap. an a/c that needs hardcore cleaning needs to be scrapped