I just picked up a 92 5spd SC300 in really good condition, but the A/C didn't work. I thought "no big deal, the rest of the car is cherry", clean interior, runs so smooth, etc. . . . Anyway, I started poking around the HVAC after I had a friend charge it. Now the A/C worked, but it smelled like !Removed! for the first 5min everytime
it fired up. So, I went to replace the cabin air filter, and it was missing. I looked in the hole and saw leaves and sticks and dirt. I pulled down the air box cover and there was so much muddy gunk stuck in the evaporator and it smelled horrible.
I tried to clean it out with the shopvac
It turns out that the evaporator had a leak in it anyway, so it needed to be replaced. So $380 later. . . . I will replace it this w/e. So all potential buyer in the higher mileage market, check the cabin airfilter before you buy. It is very easy to do. Just pull the panel down under the glovebox and you will see 4 wing nuts. Undo the wingnuts and pull down the filter. . . if its there. FYI.
Regards