AC Evaporator Replacement

[BJV]

Hi

Background:
Its a 2013 Q5 2.0TDI Quarto S Auto with ~120,000km (Right hand drive, I'm from South Africa). My AC gas was low and I had it re-gassed, but it only lasted 2 months. A visual inspection to look for the dye did not show any leaks. I sent it to a Automotive AC specialist in the area they did a "R22 flame test" to find the leak and said the evaporator is the culprit.

My Question:
Is it necessary to remove the entire HVAC unit to replace the evaporator or can it by slid out to the side?
I found some information (Audi repair manual) for a left hand drive Q5 where they bend the pipe of the old one and cut a piece off the cavity to remove it then slide in an "improved" evap and glue a special cover to close it up again. Still a massive job requiring removal of the steering, pedals and glove box.

Is this the same for the right hand drive Q5 and where can I find the correct part (all searches seems to find only units for LHD)?

My Audi dealer wants R20,000 for just the evaporator and the labor would be about R30,000. As a reference the retail value of this vehicle is R200,000. Thus is about 25% of the cars value. In South Africa we need AC, its very hot here.

[Crasher]

Evaporated or heater matrix replacement, very techs worst nightmare; it is a full dash, cross support and HVAC system out job, minimum 2 days. What is the VIN as there are two systems?

[BJV]

That sounds like a very high risk of damaging something else in the process.

The VIN is WAUZZZ8R0EA048116

[Crasher]

It is lower dash and center console, upper steering column, A pilar cross brace plus pedal box out to remove the heater box and a huge job, in some cases you actually have to cut the refrigerant lines to get the matrix out and then fit new ones, I don't want to ever have to do one of the these. The evaporator is only available genuine as a full housing under part number 8T2 898 191 D and costs £1428 for that one part alone, it looks like a complete nightmare of a job. The Audi book time is circa 6 hours so you can guarantee it is four times that in reality.

[BJV]

Thank you for you quick reply. That is too much for my DIY skills, I'm going to send it to a workshop and will post the outcome in a weeks time as a reference for other forum users.

Side note: Here is the picture of the original units (8) that can be cut and slid out and then a "replacement" unit (26) slid in back in. But the manual is for USA LHD so its bad luck for me.

evap.jpg

[Crasher]

Erwin doesn't differentiate between left and right hand drive and it was the earlier units you cut out.