Dear All,

For those of you who read my recent posts, my evap srung a leak, so I decided to change it.

Now, not wishing to offend anyone, but I did not think it was anywhere near as bad a job as is made out.

It took me, and the person helping, 8 hours start to finish - and that included changing the accumulator and stopping for a one hour lunch break (kebab and chips)!!

And as this is in view of the fact that I've never done one before, Haynes tells you nothing beyond dash removal (and half of what they tell you to remove is crap and unnecessary), and we had to stand and stare at the box the evap is in to figure out how to remove, and weren;t even aware of the fact the heater matrix needs disonnecting! Next time, no lunch, 5 hours!!

If of interest:
Haynes says remove following - I didn't:

Why remove 'top of dash' speakers?
No need to remove vents
leave wiper motor in, just remove 2 bolts and twist aside
Radio just falls out! What special tools??




So few wiring connectors connecting dash to wiring loom - though I was very surprised that the big wiring block that takes the 4 coloured multiplugs were all the same shape - if no note of order that plugs fit, could mix them up - I'm sure that would cause trouble!

I though steering wheel air bag removal was a pain - the torx 30 (as I discovered the size was) are so far recessed, and the foam 'tunnel' so tight, I resorted to 4mm long allen keys.

I used tiny screwdriver to release heater matrix pipes, proper tool to release evap pipes, the 4 13mm bolts on heater box, the air distribution pipes to rear, the air mix pipe (I think that what it is)out with the blower resistor, and just enough wiring to allow whole box forward to remove evap, and job done!

I needed to crack open the pipe close to evap in engine compartment, and release clip securing the 2 a/c pipes to get the pipes in to evap at proper angle.

So there you go - a walk in the park - and it was a sunny day!

And a bonus - I never realised the car had a glass break sensor - it was dangling behind the dash - I think it was removed and forgotton on reassembly during a previous job before I owned the car - I aways wondered what that little clip on trim up the 'A' pillar was!

If you want any advice from someone who's just 'done it' let me know!

All the best,

Kevin