Several days ago, my wife was driving along, when she heard a load noise from under the dash. A faint, oily vapor blew out of the AC vents, along with pieces of a coarse filter/sponge material.
Now the car only blows hot air.
Any suggestions?

 

looks like the evap coil has a hole in it r and r dash replace evap coil.

 

thanks---any idea what the filter type material may be? This car has no cabin air filter.

 

Probably crud that was on the evaporator coil and was blown off by the failure of the coil. The evaporator coil looks similar to a radiator with lots of small fins that can catch dust and small debris that works its way in there. If it builds up over the years, it could take the shape of the fins and look like filter material.

 

Thanks for your answers!!

I guess my holiday is going to consist of dash removal....if I can find a good coil at the junkyard.

 

Y'know, for all the work involved in removing the dash, it would be a real shame to put it all back together only to find that the junkyard coil is also bad. If I were going to invest that much effort into a project, I'd invest in parts that I knew were good.

 

Actually what I decided to do is take it out and carry it to work---one of the other guys is certified to weld ammonia refridgeration systems--an aluminum coil will be no problem.....if we can find the hole.



Any tips or secrets to getting down to this piece?

 

Spend some money and get a book. Removing the instrument panel and the heater-A/C unit is a BIG job. Screw it up and you have essentially totalled the car. Get either a Chrysler shop manual or at least a Haynes manual. Spend some time reading through it before you start so you understand what needs to be done and in what order. At some point you will need the assistance of another person. Plan on having the car out of service for a couple of days at least.
If you can pull this off you will be saving at least $700 in labor charges. $25 or $50 for a book is money well spent.