After much debate I bit the bullet and pulled the dash out the replace the evaporator which had a major leak. Previously re gassed the air-con and only lasted 2 weeks. The job probably took the better half of 12 hours to get it done over three days. Wasn't going to put up with no cold air this summer. Found the evaporator had a good hole in it as per the photos. Had to clean out the heater core as well as it was nearly blocked so now have heating and cooling. These modern cars are terrific. For those who are interested the dismantle is as follows. speedo cowl, speedo, steering wheel and airbags ( make sure you disconnect the battery before you start and wait awhile to drain power), steering column covers and retaining bolts for column and speedo mount plate, RH lower fuse box cover (4 bolts and 4 for the steel X member), same for the LH side including glove box. remove climate control unit, clock and switches and cup holder, remove center dash fascia , remover LH side air bag 4 bolts and one plug be careful, remove LH & RH lower X member the ones the glove box and fuse cover bolt to and the drive tunnel mounts both sides, remove auto knob and drive selector and unplug, undo screws that hold a/window switch's and unplug and remove, unscrew center console, un-clip hand brake boot and remove handbrake pin so you can get the lever off, this will now allow you to remove the console. After that if I haven't forgotten anything you should be able to start removing the main dash unit. watch for the wiring that you have disconnected the plugs ( especially the heater one at the top). After you have it out then comes the fan unit and the bolts holding the heater/aircon unit. First you will have to drain the water and get at the pressure glands at the back of the engine. This took me 1 1/2 hours to undo and the same to put back so take your time 8mm if you are interested. Also don't forget to undo the heater cores pipe next to it as well. From here you should be able to remove the beast and see what is wrong with yours. As I said the heater core was clogged with rust and mud on mine so used H.pressure hose to clean out with the help of CLR. The evaporator was stuffed so used a good s/hand one as a replacement. Re-gased after all back together with Minus 30 as I can buy that (used 225 grams) and new oil and die and its working great now. will check for leaks in a couple of weeks and recheck the output temp. Be careful with the dash and the speedo cowl as they can be very fragile and very easily broken as I found out so new speedo cowl for me soon, but this one will be fiberglass from Malaysia .
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