It's about 6 months since our '02 300M's A/C quit with a hissing sound and a sweet smell in the cabin. I bought a replacement evaporator, heater core and receiver/drier a while back but haven't yet installed them.
I've been reading the service manual and have questions:
- A lot has to be removed to get at the evaporator and heater core. Is it really so much of a hassle that I ought to try to find somebody who will do the job for me?
- If it *is* something I ought to be able to do myself:
(a) I can't figure out whether I have to remove the steering wheel or not. The Chilton manual (for LH-series vehicles up to 2001) says to remove the steering wheel first, but the Chrysler manual seems to allow for removing the steering column with the wheel still in place.
(b) I've been reading that the refrigerant oil is highly hygroscopic (absorbs moisture, even from the air), so what about the oil still in the system? Will that have absorbed moisture through the leak that allowed the refrigerant to escape, so that it will all need to be drained and replaced?
Anything I might not have thought of?
Perce