Evaporator replacement 2012 DS5

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uniD
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Evaporator replacement 2012 DS5

Post by uniD »

Hi everyone,

Could anyone give me some information about changing the evaporator on a 2L 2012 DS5?
Were exactly is it located? And does the dashboard has to be disassembled?
I had a huge problem with the AC, the former owner changed the compressor, and I have changed then radiator and the main AC line and the problem still isn’t fixed. So now the only possible problem will be the evaporator.
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GiveMeABreak
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Re: Evaporator replacement 2012 DS5

Post by GiveMeABreak »

Unfortunately PSA don't sell the evaporator separately. It is part of the complete housing:
DS5 Evaporator.png
So getting this out is a dash off as you'd expect. You haven't mentioned the issue / symptoms. If you are getting only hot or cold air on one side it may be the air mixer or air distribution motors or the gearing.....
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Marc
uniD
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Re: Evaporator replacement 2012 DS5

Post by uniD »

Well I regas the system 3 times in two months. The system was completely empty every time, so there’s a leak somewhere. A week ago I changed the main AC line and perform another leak test. Everything seam fine, but two days ago the system was empty again, not a single gram of refrigerant.
Now the only part that I couldn’t check is the evaporator, either than that, most of the parts were replaced, line, condenser and compressor 😳
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Re: Evaporator replacement 2012 DS5

Post by GiveMeABreak »

What about dye? Have you used a dye to check where the leak is?

It took the dealers 4 attempts to find my leak and it was on a hose - very hard to see near the condenser, but eventually after 3 re-gasses they found it. Again with a dye and a UV telescopic torch / camera, you may be able to rule out the evaporator by back probing through one of the closest vents to see if there is any sign of refrigerant there.

But a dye has to be the place to start first, if not to rule out other more common places.
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Re: Evaporator replacement 2012 DS5

Post by uniD »

Tried the dye, the problem with the dye now, is that it’s splashed all over the place from the line that was damaged.
And the start fella who diagnosed it, seen the splash on the radiator and I changed it for nothing 😐
I diagnosed it with a sniffer last time and it couldn’t find no leaks. But it looks like there’s a leak somewhere.
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Re: Evaporator replacement 2012 DS5

Post by GiveMeABreak »

That's really annoying :(

All I can say is that it's a massive job and not for the feint hearted taking the dash off, so just wanted to rule out the other possibilities.
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Re: Evaporator replacement 2012 DS5

Post by uniD »

Yeah i dont think it’s worth taking down the dashboard.
I wonder how I could test if it’s the evaporator. If I have access somehow to put the sniffer inside or something. Anyone has any ideas?
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Re: Evaporator replacement 2012 DS5

Post by EDC5 »

I assume the air conditioning would be set to come out of the front vent and the sniffer probe would be placed down the vent to see if any refrigerant was making its way out inside the cabin.
uniD
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Re: Evaporator replacement 2012 DS5

Post by uniD »

Oh...yeah, that sounds logic. Thanks a million for the help.
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