Carlo_Carrera

^ I need to know as well. @leftlane

mcwop23

yeah my guy was like "to do it properly is almost 5k, half parts half labor" or something similar and he told me not to do it lol

Lazurus

When I had mine done I opted to only replace the foam with the heat resistant tape to cover the now missing foam by accessing the heater core area inside the frunk. Didn't bother with full removal of the interior dash pieces. That took at most a couple hours. Still no one is doing all that for $75.00. I'd like to know of a magic trick too that doesn't just make $75.00 disappear.

Some good info pics and a step by step of full replacement here including pics of the heater core and blend door removed. 986 depicted but the 996 process is the same.
http://986forum.com/forums/diy-proje...am-flakes.html

jpflip

[Some good info pics and a step by step of full replacement here including pics of the heater core and blend door removed. 986 depicted but the 996 process is the same.
[url]http://986forum.com/forums/diy-project-guides/37246-c-evaporator-replacement-c-foam-flakes.html[/QUOTE]


Very good info! Thanks for the link Lazarus!

JBear

For $70 I'm guessing around 30 minutes to fix. Is there some creative way he could have used spray foam or something like that?, without taking everything apart? Maybe a few well placed holes, borescope, and spray foam? Just spit balling here.

s65e90

No reason to remove the dash to fix the blend door. Though that should just make the heat suck, AC should still work, I'd check the system. But for the blend door, you can go in through the heater core, pop the pivot pin under the pass side of the dash and move it back and forth with your hands while fishing some stiff (HVAC type) tape onto the door. It's a little tricky, but not too bad,

s65e90

For $70, he probably did what I mentioned. It should not take that long. Though that's still very cheap.

JBear

I've watched the video to do that repair, $70 seems awfully cheap.

s65e90

If you're mechanically inclined, it should take no more than one hour.

Lazurus

It isn't possible to access the one portion of the blend door(s) from the heater core area without a full removal of the core itself. No one has hands that small. There simply isn't enough room or even access to the blend door unless it's ( the core ) is fully removed. Those video clips and/or pictures show the necessity of pulling the heater core out to replace the disappeared foam and why that's the "easy way" in. One of the clips shows the longer more in depth removal and replacement attempted "re-taping" while accessing under the dash behind the horseshoe "surround". But that is more involved and unnecessary if you only replace the missing foam ( or tape it ) that can be accessed once the core has been removed. The holes are confounding and can only be for the perceived weight savings which can't be very much, so I covered the lot of them and all works as it should.

It still took awhile for the remaining foam bits to continue to briefly litter the cabin as it's difficult to shop vac all the loose bits. But the A/C will eventually expel them all. If I begin now to see silver bits of tape emanating from the vents? I will be concerned.

Titos 911

I had this foam issue on my recently purchased car, I took the AC vents out and made an extension for the vacuum cleaner, and from the other side I pushed air, It seems fine now, and the AC works well but I am curious if I will encounter different issues in the future for this garage hack repair?

s65e90

It's possible, I did it as well as many others. It's tedious sure, but I did it many years ago now (only the top door accessed through heater core) and I have no more foam in vents and heat and air work better than my other cars.

s65e90

The key is stiff hvac tape as you fish it down carefully and once in place you can move the door and get it stuck to it. The hardest part is getting it aligned to the door as there is literally like an inch of room and you're sliding something very sticky past the door and it wants to grab it. The stiff tape is key as you can mold it flat.

s65e90

You won't have good heat.

Carlo_Carrera

That is what I am thinking, the only way it could be done for $70 is some type of spray foam.