Where's the evaporator on an SL-2?

I live in Phoenix, and have a 1993 Saturn SL2 with a clogged evaporator. My Chilton's manual is useless- doesn't show where the evaporator is. I should add that the Saturn guys said that it was perforated, but a separate a/c specialty shop says that it's probably just clogged with crap- the Freon is OK.

Saturn wanted about $1700 to fix it, with no guarantee the evaporator was the problem, or the only problem. The a/c shop says it would be a lot less, but still a LOT- mainly for cleaning the old evaporator out. I'd like to buy a used one, clean it myself in an ultrasonic bath, take it to the mechanic (who is OK with installing parts he didn't sell me!), who would then take out the old one, put in the clean one, and smile smile smile.

Of course, I'm a cheap SOB, and would rather clean it myself- provided I didn't have to disconnect it, of course. I see where the air intake is, but can't find the evaporator itself- don't know how to get to it.

Can anyone suggest where it would be on a 1993 Saturn SL2? It's an automatic if it makes any difference; the car has lots of life in it- I'd prefer to get it fixed, and FAST! It's getting hot here!

i'm not to impressed with Chilton ether, i also have a Haynes witch i use more often. it also has a how-to on R&I the evap. it is in the left front under the headlight. you will need to discharge the A/C so you may need to covert to R-134a while your in there.

also having a dealership or any shop say this may or may not be the problem is basicly a policy. it covers them in the small chance its not the problem or there is more then one problem. I.E. - i just had a large crack in my radiator and a small leak in the water pump. you would never had known the water pump was bad until i fixed the waterfall in the radiator. sometimes thats just the way it is.

Thanks for the quick reply!

I'm not sure we're talking about the same part. I'm looking for the evaporator, which (if my rudimentary understanding of a/c is correct) is where the Freon undergoes the phase change from liquid to gas, making the evaporator get cold. Air blows over this and then into the passenger compartment. If I'm thinking of the same bit that you're describing, that's the condensor, which is way up in front so that the heat gets taken off after the working fluid is compressed.

I could be completely wrong, and getting to the evaporator is going to be easier than I thought- I'm prepared to tear down the dash to get to the bit that I need to get to, but BOY that Chilton's manual is just useless! I don't know who their photographers and printers are, but they ought to be taken out and thorougly shot...!

ah ha! you are right, i was looking at the wrong pictures. after double checking my Haynes, it appears the evap core is behind the heater core. i don't think you have to remove the whole dash, just the radio bezel, HVAC controls, and center kick panels.

yeah, the evaporator core is inside the HVAC module, which requires the entire dash to be removed. that why it costs so much to fix. its not an easy repair.

one more thing that AC shop is probably just guessing at your problem anyway.

if it is just full of crap blow it out with an air hose, if you can get to it. dont feel bad, my ac compressor is locked up, and my car is midnight blue. i call it "the ovenmobile"...