My GF AC evaporator core in her 04 Jeep Grand Cherokee went out. Apparently you have to remove the entire dash and interior in order to get to it.

I told her to go ahead and replace the heater core as it is right there, and the part is not that much.

The mechanic and the parts guy we trust says, the factory heater core is better than the aftermarket ones and not to replace it.

Are the aftermarket heater cores junk? and we should run with the 15 year old orig, or replace it with a new aftermarket one?

Oddly enough the mechanic said to NOT get a factory evaporator as those are junk (and the aftermarket ones are better), but he appears to have the opposite opinion on the heater core?

This is approaching a $1k job, so don't want to do it twice to replace the heater core later....

Anyone have any thoughts?