I was able to look closer today, and after reinserting the arm into the door, all appears to be working correctly. I guess I got lucky with no stripped gears or broken door
IMPORTANT: Check your HVAC recirculate door and answer Poll (1 Viewer)
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Hoping the peanut gallery can help me diagnose.
2018… door/damper doesn’t move, stuck up in fresh/outside air mode. If I put it on on recirc and gently pull the door/damper back, there’s no resistance. When fully closed it stays in place.
If I switch it from recirc to fresh/outside air after manually closing the door/damper, it goes back up like it should.
No grinding or motor noise.
TIA.
2018… door/damper doesn’t move, stuck up in fresh/outside air mode. If I put it on on recirc and gently pull the door/damper back, there’s no resistance. When fully closed it stays in place.
If I switch it from recirc to fresh/outside air after manually closing the door/damper, it goes back up like it should.
No grinding or motor noise.
TIA.
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The door is not made to ever operate manually. The mechanism connecting the shaft of the servo motor to the damper is partially broken, so it apparently can move one way using the fresh/recirc button but not the other. The mechanism needs replacing or fixing, using one of many how-to threads on here, including this one.
Aware it shouldn’t move manually. Trying to center in on if it’s a gear or @Oakleyguy issue.
If someone’s got a specific idea whats wrong based on dealing with this that’ll help me center in before I start pulling stuff apart, all the better.
Fact it moves in one direction seems different from what other folks have experienced. Hence the ?
They pretty much all break the same way. I can’t be more specific about the mechanism without a photo so here’s one from @Oakleyguy. The arm/lever is the weak point. The severity of the break varies. On those completely broken the servo motor can’t move the door at all. With a partial crack, the door can sometimes move one way and not the other. Either way, you’re in for a repair of the linkage.
Thx!
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Can you describe where in the photo, or if you have the capability to draw an arrow to or circle around the break area, and repost it, that would help me as I am missing it.
Operational and Non-Operational.
It would not let me vote twice.
I have two 2021 LCs. Both have the rudimentary warning labels. The one still under warranty works just fine. The other one when inspected, the clamshell door was in the up/open position with filter visible. It will not open or close when operating the buttons, and there is no noise, i.e. clicking or servo. I can manually open and close the door freely and smoothly, without any clicking, or resistance. I can't see anything broken or misaligned, but I didn't take the filter out.
Unfortunately, the vehicle with the problem door I just purchased last week from a Lexus dealer, and the factory warranty had just expired 1000-miles previously. I spoke with the salesman at the dealership (13-hours away - one way), and he's going to discuss it with his used car manager, and service manager and see what can be done?
This vehicle has only had one prior owner, and regularly served a a Toyota dealership in Kansas City, per the CarFax on it.
Also, my other LC, I didn't receive a glove box key for it, and the other one the dealer in KC still has it. How many glove box keys came with these from the factory? Are they all keyed the same?
On another note, when messing around with the access door on the vehicle that has an inoperable unit, this little piece fell out.
It doesn't look like it belongs to the vehicle?
It would not let me vote twice.
I have two 2021 LCs. Both have the rudimentary warning labels. The one still under warranty works just fine. The other one when inspected, the clamshell door was in the up/open position with filter visible. It will not open or close when operating the buttons, and there is no noise, i.e. clicking or servo. I can manually open and close the door freely and smoothly, without any clicking, or resistance. I can't see anything broken or misaligned, but I didn't take the filter out.
Unfortunately, the vehicle with the problem door I just purchased last week from a Lexus dealer, and the factory warranty had just expired 1000-miles previously. I spoke with the salesman at the dealership (13-hours away - one way), and he's going to discuss it with his used car manager, and service manager and see what can be done?
This vehicle has only had one prior owner, and regularly served a a Toyota dealership in Kansas City, per the CarFax on it.
Also, my other LC, I didn't receive a glove box key for it, and the other one the dealer in KC still has it. How many glove box keys came with these from the factory? Are they all keyed the same?
On another note, when messing around with the access door on the vehicle that has an inoperable unit, this little piece fell out.
It doesn't look like it belongs to the vehicle?
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Hoosier Daddy
SILVER Star
Right in the middle of the photo is the vertical foam seal for the door when in the fresh position. If you look closely right at the bottom of that seal, you can see the broken plastic on the door arm. When that breaks the shaft from the motor turns freely and does not move the door.
The glove box key is the metal key in your fob. All are different.
Look at post #222, it was mine and shows where it breaks.
So mine was cracked. Fortunately @Oakleyguy lives 20 minutes away. He was kind enough to install his fix for some Christmas cookies and the damper door is back to working. Lol I had a bad internal trim panel experience in the past that caused some PTSD 
, didn‘t have the right tool for the job and broke off a bunch of tabs on my GX460 and my wife’s RX350.
FYI his solution works with 2016+ Cruisers. Only difference from his install videos are relocation of a few tabs on the tranny tunnel kick panel and Toyota shifted the ECU a bit so it takes a tad more finagling to install.
Here’s his Etsy listing for the part. Highly recommend.
www.etsy.com
, didn‘t have the right tool for the job and broke off a bunch of tabs on my GX460 and my wife’s RX350. FYI his solution works with 2016+ Cruisers. Only difference from his install videos are relocation of a few tabs on the tranny tunnel kick panel and Toyota shifted the ECU a bit so it takes a tad more finagling to install.
Here’s his Etsy listing for the part. Highly recommend.
Land Cruiser HVAC Recirculation Door Fix - Etsy
This Car Accessories item by ONEngineering has 41 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from Arvada, CO. Listed on Mar 26, 2024
www.etsy.com
Today, I took my gray heritage to the dealership to verify the door in question is indeed Non-Operational and get a quote for repair cost, as requested from the dealership I purchased the vehicle from. As I was showing it to the service tech, it is now partially working. It still will not close, but manually moving it to closed, and then selecting fresh air, the door now opens. When I checked it a couple weeks ago, it wouldn't close or open. This is weird.
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Mine did what yours does. Get the @Oakleyguy solution on Etsy.
The mechanism is pretty messed up. The door is closed in the fresh air position, not open. The broken part can get caught in different positions, causing strange operation, or often no operation.
Installed Oakleyguy‘s fix this morning on my 2013. Took about 45 minutes taking it slow. Recirclate door now functions 100%.So mine was cracked. Fortunately @Oakleyguy lives 20 minutes away. He was kind enough to install his fix for some Christmas cookies and the damper door is back to working…
Here’s his Etsy listing for the part. Highly recommend.
Land Cruiser HVAC Recirculation Door Fix - Etsy
This Car Accessories item by ONEngineering has 41 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from Arvada, CO. Listed on Mar 26, 2024
This is a major contribution to the community and is going to continue to save us thousands. Thanks @Oakleyguy .
bloc
SILVER Star
Agreed.
And personally, I’d rather install that even if I had to pay than let a dealer remove the dash for the Toyota version of the fix.. even if it was free under warranty. About a thousand little things can go wrong with that operation, and even if they use their master tech, IMO the dash is better off not having to be disturbed.
saywhat
SILVER Star
Just confirming that @Oakleyguy 's fix works great on a 13 LX 570.
www.etsy.com
Land Cruiser HVAC Recirculation Door Fix - Etsy
This Car Accessories item by ONEngineering has 6 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from Arvada, CO. Listed on Jan 20, 2023
www.etsy.com
Fixed mine on a 2011. Easy to install , just follow instructions. Works perfect now.
2008 here. Appears I have the floppy actuator junction/no-break issue. Just ordered @Oakleyguy bits. Three cheers for MUD (again)
