Air Conditioning / Heating Unit , no air coming throught the vents (2007 Toyota Prius)

[DrMetal]

Hello,

I have a 2007 Prius w/ 65K on it. Am having a pecular problem with the central air (air conditionining and heating), here are the symptoms:

• The touch screen 'climate' console is working fine.
• When I switch the A/C on, and set the fan to any level, no air comes out of the vents.
• When I turn the A/C button off (to get warmer air), still no air comes out of the vents.
• This is the case at all settings of the fan level, at all temperatures, and at all vent directions (including defrost). No air comes out, no matter what!
• When I turn the A/C and fan on, I hear a clicking noise from the driver's side lower-left panel, below the steering wheel. This is the fuse. That sound is normal, I've always heard it when turning on the A/c.
• I took out and examined the fuse, did not appear to be blown out.
• So it looks like the electrical component of the central air is working, but nothing is coming out of the vents.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

[dogfriend]

What is the condition of the cabin air filter? I know for my car, it gets pretty dirty in about 15k miles. If it hasn't been changed for awhile, it could be clogged up.

[Patrick Wong]

Can you hear the ventilation fan running? If so then you might suspect the cabin air filter blocking air flow. However if you do not hear the fan running, then the suspect components include the blower motor, the blower motor controller, the AC amplifier or the wiring harness.

[DrMetal]

Originally Posted by Patrick Wong

Can you hear the ventilation fan running? If so then you might suspect the cabin air filter blocking air flow. However if you do not hear the fan running, then the suspect components include the blower motor, the blower motor controller, the AC amplifier or the wiring harness.

No, I can't hear the fan running. I hear some clicking and 'electrical' type noises, but no fan.

The filter I replaced about 2 weeks ago, was working fine after replacement. I doubt that's it, but I'll check it out. Will post back here when I find out what's going on. thanks,

/

[dogfriend]

The blower fan is below the cabin air filter. You may be able to check to see if the fan is rotating when you have the cabin air filter out.

[DrMetal]

Originally Posted by dogfriend

The blower fan is below the cabin air filter. You may be able to check to see if the fan is rotating when you have the cabin air filter out.

Yeah i did just that. The blower fan is definitely noT blowing. Is it easy to rplace? Something i can do (im fairly handy), or time to take it in?

[dogfriend]

Looking at the service manual, it appears that you must remove that blower assembly as a unit, then remove the blower motor from the unit. Of course, you must remove the passenger side lower dash assembly first. It looks doable by someone who is mechanically inclined.

As Patrick pointed out, there are a couple of other components that could also cause the problem, but if you pull the blower motor, or at least get access to the power connections, you could apply 12v directly to the motor to see if it is the cause of the problem.

You can get the service manual info at techinfo.toyota.com. You have to subscribe to access the manual, but you should be able to download the sections that you need as PDF files.

[hoop]

funny thing, mine just started doing the same thing. 2007 69000 miles. Sometimes it will come on and stay on while I'm driving until I turn the car off. It almost seems like a loose connection 'cuse it came on one time when I shut the door on the passenger side but that might have been coincidental. i'm not trying to hijack your thread but it sounds like the same problem. I dont think its your blower motor.

[DrMetal]

Originally Posted by hoop

funny thing, mine just started doing the same thing. 2007 69000 miles. Sometimes it will come on and stay on while I'm driving until I turn the car off. It almost seems like a loose connection 'cuse it came on one time when I shut the door on the passenger side but that might have been coincidental. i'm not trying to hijack your thread but it sounds like the same problem. I dont think its your blower motor.

Yeah, that's exactly what it did 2 weeks ago. Please, hijack away! So what did you do about it?

Now I have a new problem. The dash display (the screen that displays the MPH, Fuel meter, etc) is turning OFF when I turn the lights ON.

I'm not sure if the A/C issue is related to this. Looks like I'm having an electical problem in the dash. Time to take this puppy in. Will keep you posted.

[hoop]

update: I pulled off a plastic cover from below the glovebox. There is a small metal box with a plug with wires going into it. If I tap on the bottom of the box near the firewall the a/c blower starts up. Maybe someone on here with a book can tell us what this box does. I tried wiggling the plug and reinserting it a few times but that didn't help. Tapping on the box always works. I also hear a strange noise from my fan motor so it might be going out too. If I run it on high the output is inconsistant. I need to replace it I guess.