2018 LC200 5.7 Driver side A/C VENT doesn't work

[Sirrattles]

just an FYI for further viewers, the blend door actuators are very common to fail on the 200, if a reset fixes it and it fails again, more than likely you have a weak blend door motor. which one you need is the hard part to diagnose, i usually pull one at a time and manually operate the gears to see if i can make the AC do what its supposed to. sometimes one side is hot, sometimes one side doesnt work, sometimes fresh air and recirc dont change. there can be up to 8 blend doors fitted.

hope that helps someone.

View attachment 3501272

Is this the “pull the whole dash out” situation?

 

[Sirrattles]

not a LC200 but a 2011 LX570 here. During the past few 100 degree days, I noticed the driver side blows out cold air, in the early morning the cold air is visible. But passenger side (and possibly backseat but not sure) just blows lukewarm air. My mechanic claims the inner mechanics is failing, could be blend door/air mix control or even the servo motor, but he has just underwent a complete dash rip-out job on a RX so he's had it, he simply doesn't want to get involved and claims many car AC system (Germans) are just such a pain it takes 11 hours.

I trust my guy but I have a feeling he may be experiencing AC/dash rip-out PTSD.

So I may take it to the dealer and try the software/electronic re-set method. Although, one service guy quickly said "that's a long job, you are low on freon, we need to put dye into the freon and fill up and let it work for a few days etc etc...." No way... at least my mechanic ruled out the low freon or leaking freon theory.

What was the final solution?

 

[Sirrattles]

Adding my situation at this post

Post in thread '2016 200 series HVAC Temperature Issue Help Needed - I am new to the 200 series'

Jun 8, 2026

Thanks. Mine blows full air out of all vents, just the temperature difference.

• Sirrattles

 

[vegas12]

I have a 2009 - bought it 3 years ago… and for the entire 3 years I would get a servo “fart” when the car started or shortly after. The noises stopped this week and so did the air to the driver vents. My office shares a side street with a local Toyota dealership. Anyways - as was explained to me, and with some personal research, my issue seems to be that as the LC ages you can get foam debris from the flapper door or sticky actuators that cause the servos to bind and as a result strip the tiny gears or burn up the motor. There are like 8-9 of these that run all the flapper doors in the HVAC unit. You can swap them out (at great cost via labor) but if you don’t fix the root flapper door or actuator issues, they will just grind up or burn out again.

There is also a different issue when your battery goes dead that causes the computer to lose track where your servo is wresting, and the recalibration fixes that positional issue of the flapper door - where the door is in position A and the computer thinks it is in position B.

If you go the servo swap route - make sure the flapper and actuators work without bind before replacing…