Josey Wales

Just joined the forum...been lurking for a while. Have a "new" 96 4-Runner Limited with 173k miles. Have big plans for it in the future, but need to get this little problem solved first.

It (btw, no rear heater) has been having A/C problems. The A/C works ok for a while, then freezes up. If you turn the A/C off but leave the vent fan on for about 10 minutes, it unfreezes and works ok again.

My wife had it out of town and took it to a dealership. They said it was a bad Thermister, but she chose not to have it fixed. She brought it home and said, "Honey, I'm sure you can fix it". Looked in the manual...that appears to be under the dash near the evaporator. The manual doesn't have specific instructions for removing the thermister only, but discusses removing the whole evaporator (which requires evacuating the system). My question is, do you think it's possible to remove the thermister only without evacuating the system, and just how much of a pain would it be for someone somewhat familiar with a wrench?

I'd probably rather just have the dealership do it, but I like working on stuff myself, and of course I don't want the wife thinking I'm not superman.

Thanks for your help...