Air Conditioner Problem

A little more info just may be in order if you want anyone to assist you here. What are the conditions, the climate control system settings, etc.?

 

And if not on Hi what does it do?

 

Even in Auto with moderate temperature setting? If so it sounds like you have a problem with the climate control system or the damper actuator.

 

It sounds like you have a defective climate control system. If you are within warranty take it to your dealer and have it repaired or replaced. If out of warranty, well, it probably still needs to go to the dealer for diagnosing.

 

Cry on there sholder a little bit, maybe they will get a hold of Toyota and maybe they will help out with a little bit of help on costs. Never hurts to ask, sometimes it works.

 

Sounds like the air door actuator motor might be the problem. It could also be the control head not supplying the signal to the motor. In any event it looks like a trip to the dealer. In which case I would start to talk to the service manager for some kind of policy adjustment from the factory.

 

I'd guess maybe a loose or broken cable somewhere, or possibly a problem with the A/C Amplifier ECU. According to the repair manual, it looks like there's a single connector that controls the outlet dampers, the air mix damper (i.e. hot/cold), and the inlet damper (fresh/recirculate). It also carries the signal giving the temperature of the A/C evaporator.

It looks like you can check for a DTC on the A/C panel - try this at your own risk, I have no idea what it might do... It looks like you need to turn the car off, then go to ACC mode for >5 seconds, then go to IG-ON while pressing both Auto and Recirculate on the A/C panel. It will flash all the indicators on the A/C panel four times, and will then display any DTCs it has stored - if it shows 00, then it hasn't detected any trouble. The manual's writing is not clear, but it seems like it should cycle through them automatically if there is more than 1; you can also press Mode to cycle through them manually. Press Off to get out of the diagnostic mode.

If it were the cable or connector, I would guess you might see DTCs 13, 41, 42, 43, and/or 97 displayed. Those are for the evaporator temperature sensor, air mix damper control, air inlet damper control, air outlet damper control, and Bus IC communication malfunction, respectively.

It looks like this ECU is in front of the console box, that open space under the flying bridge, where the power socket and heated seat buttons are housed. So if you're adventurous, you might be able to find the ECU and check the connections. I'm not sure if the connectors are labeled, but it would be an 8-pin connector (2 tall by 4 wide), and the manual calls it z11. Adjacent to it is a very wide (40-pin) connector called L17, and next to that one is a medium-sized (24-pin) one.

So if you feel like giving it a go, maybe you can fix it yourself. But nobody (especially me) would fault you for taking it to the dealer to have them look at it instead, rather than to trust some random guy on the internet to give you instructions, and to trust that you can take apart your car without breaking anything.