evaporator removal help - RHD E34

[shogun]

As we have some experienced member from RHD countries, here a question from someone in Perth, Australia, posted on BF, and no answers so far. Must be not the easiest job, as even the AC filter for RHD cars is a split version because of the steering column on the right side and the pedals: quote

evaporator removal help - RHD car
Hey Guys, I’m new to the forum however trying to get my evaporator done on my e34 535i, it’s a RHD though. Need help I can’t slide it out, it hits the top of the pedal assembly frame. Any tips?

[myles]

When I did it, I gave up following instructions because they were only for LHD. I removed the whole dashboard including the top and loosened the hvac box from the firewall until I could get the evaporator out.

[genphreak]

I just removed the side pieces and the steering column to do the filter, TX valve and AC pipe seals. They were easy, but you must treat all the (IIRC) T25 torx nuts with respect. This is hard as they are deep in their holes, and you need thin extensions and/or T25 screwdrivers. To do the evaporator may take a lot more, but once the centre dash is out its a matter of opening the casing seeing how to wiggle it out, which must be where he's at. The AC evaporator does come out before the heater core though.

To do it, you need to remove the steering column- which is damn hard because you have to saw through the shear nut and either replace it with another from BMW or a normal but and bolt which may have a safety impact. Perhaps dismantling the entire dash- radio, controls, dashpad, vents, cluster, supporting sections, inc. removal of the console would allow you to access the IHKR box and remove it as a single unit once the AC pipes, wires and coolant pipes are disconnected, but I'm yet to try doing this myself (!)

Question is, why? They do not often fail- e32 and e34 use old-school piped evaporators (and condensors), not capillary models. They don't fail commonly. And you can replace the expansion valve via the foot well with a 5mm allen and a T25- but it takes monkey hands and some tight spot tools to crack the fasteners free and do them back up.

BTW, if working on the AC, don't forget to replace the AUX fan resistor behind the bumper, they are always toasted and cause poor AC cooling in moderate conditions.