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how to replace bad air vent servo

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Rok, Jul 29, 2018.

  1. Rok

    Rok Junior Member

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    if you hear clicking, humming noise below dashboard and you have problems with ventilation (windshield fogging, low foot air circulation...) you have bad vent servo motor or possible air mix servo motor.
    I replaced upper (ventilation direction) servo, air mix servo was ok.
    those are on driver side (EU model) seen from bottom.
    bad servo motor (scratched contacts on contactor inside) see attached file
    It is not so easy to replace this, you have to remove:
    driver seat (for easy access)
    left air vent
    upper and lower plastics around steering wheel
    white plastics for leg ventilation
    remove 12 batery terminal in trunk!
    remove ecu (3screws)-this is most difficult. Two 10mm screws are easy to do it from bottom but one is well hidden and I unscrew it with a lot of rachet extenders (80cm together)
    then you can remove upper or lower servo or both with philips screwdriver adapter on rachet and unplug the servo cable


    this fix is difficult but i did it in 5 hours and i didn't have to remove the whole dashboard as the mechanics on toyota do (1500eur costs)
    Now prius heats and cools as new.
    Oh I have 298.000km on it
     

    Attached Files:

    Norwegian, Prius Pete, bisco and 3 others like this.
  2. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    That's great!!

    Any other pictures that you can share?

    Not sure if the 'bad servo motor (scratched contacts on contactor inside)' image made it online.
     
    Patrick Wong likes this.
  3. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    It would also be nice to see a picture of the ECU (as well as its location) that the OP had to remove.

    I am also wondering where the OP obtained a replacement servo motor - is that a Toyota service part, or did the OP cannibalize the motor from a used unit.
     
    SFO likes this.
  4. sgb_pa

    sgb_pa Junior Member

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    SFO likes this.