This thread sort of addresses the opposite question that several members have asked(I’ll get to that in a bit), but in searching I haven’t found any answers, just dead ends with “I’ll report back”.
The question that has been asked is – How do you switch from an “Auto” climate control system to a “Manual” climate control system. In most cases it seems this stems from a failure point and people want to know if you can simply just cut out all the extra sensors and be done with it.
EDIT - Jump to Post #10 if you're looking to go to manual climate system from an auto system.
Well the answer to that is - yes. But to what lengths do you want to go? In my opinion it would be vastly easier to just fix what’s broken with the system that’s in place, but if you’re having trouble doing that, then there is a solution.
I will now flip that question on its head, as that’s the direction I need to go with my project, and then we will reverse engineer it at the end.
Premise:
I am wrapping up a RHD to LHD JDM VX Limited body swap onto a LHD chassis. A topic for another time, but long story short the LHD body and interior were absolutely trashed; had been in several wrecks, stolen, rusted, etc. The LHD is a 1994 US Spec FZJ80 triple locked. And as mentioned, thrashed. But has full float and lockers, and the chassis itself seems to be in good shape. Which is basically all I bought it for… Drivetrain and running gear will definitely need to be gone thru when I get it driveable. I swapped in all new PS components prior to teardown as it was leaking out of control.
For the most part, an amazing donor specimen became available which I just planned to rob the interior out of for a grey to brown swap, and then considered removable body panels, then it just snowballed into the entire body haha. Project creep. Tie in that question of ‘of what lengths do you want to go?’ and whatever you consider with your project, it will be less than what I just bit off and am still chewing. The RHD VX is a 1992 JDM HDJ81 with 24v 1HD-T and from what I can tell, the slightly different version of the same transmisison.
Regardless of age, the VX is far superior in almost every aspect, which made it very hard to choose what direction to take the project, how far to go in incorporating the cool little things like a center console cooler, foldable mirrors, headlight washers etc. At the end of the day, it’s full bore. With this invasive of a ‘surgery,’ it wouldn’t have made sense to have everything apart and not take the time to swap wiring over. No biggie, started with the little stuff and moved forward. Some of these things needed to happen anyways as the inner fenders are quite different between the LHD and RHD bodies. So it was a question of do I put in the time to downgrade the system, or a similar amount of time to upgrade.
Then the climate system wiring task was next up.
And s*** was way different between 1992 and 1994.
WTF.
So, I started reading up on it, well, right here in the forums. And found some blips about people asking the difference between auto and manual, then noticed the dip switches on the back of the heater/AC control, then it was full on ok WTF is going on here. So many little things, so many differences – none of it hard, just needed to be catalogued, wires traced, confirmed as different, and move on.
So, at this point aside from having a donor and all parts/harnesses available for both systems, going from manual to auto is incredibly harder than auto to manual. As a generalization, most systems just become unused. Present still, but unused. And I think I found the key for how to swap from Auto to Manual.
For now, you will have to suffer through my pain first, then it will be clear what needs to be done to simply (hopefully, as full disclosure I’m going through this process in real time) the complexities and swap to a manual hvac system. Also big asterisk*** that this is a VX/HDJ81 harness I’m swapping from, and it’s very possible there are small differences from the other AUTO climate harnesses in the FZJ realm. I still haven’t found a 92 HDJ81 FSM; several differences exist from the 1990 HDJ FSM I have.
When I tore down the VX Limited, I numbered all of the harness plugs and for terminations -labeled as best I could what they were plugged in to. Harness to harness plugs all got a number but in some cases were not identified, so I've had to trace the wires from each and attempt to determine what each was supplying. When you see 'Plug 3', that's what the number is referring to - more or less an abstract number based on how the harness was removed.
OK, so without further ado, here is what is NOT PRESENT IN MANUAL CLIMATE WIRING:
PLUG 3 White/Yellow
_______________________
** For center console cooler solenoid:
- solenoid in AC lines on left inner fender has a small black 2pin connector (plug 10), wired from solinoid Yellow/Red wire to Plug 3 Male terminal 13. TBD ***Yellow/Blue = 12.
- wiring to center console switch (3-wires, TBD to where)
Maunal v Auto Climate logic boxes:
*AC Amplifier: M=88650-60060 <> A=88650-60080 (HDJ) -or- 88650-60212 FZJ (1997) (black box)
*Heater Amplifier M=87161-60020 <> A=87161-60010 (black box)
*M=8-Terminal Jumper Plug with 4 jumper wires <> A=88650-60091 - Three connector logic box (tan box)
How Do I make this more concise?
Here is what you need to go from Manual to Auto:
Ok so finally, the answer you’re looking for – which to my knowledge without testing anything at all – this is what you would need to do to switch from Auto to Manual climate.
******* I should also state that you probably have to move the dip-switch to the correct location in the back of the heater control box, and you can also remove the blank cover in the front that's over the 'auto' button in the center.
The question that has been asked is – How do you switch from an “Auto” climate control system to a “Manual” climate control system. In most cases it seems this stems from a failure point and people want to know if you can simply just cut out all the extra sensors and be done with it.
EDIT - Jump to Post #10 if you're looking to go to manual climate system from an auto system.
Well the answer to that is - yes. But to what lengths do you want to go? In my opinion it would be vastly easier to just fix what’s broken with the system that’s in place, but if you’re having trouble doing that, then there is a solution.
I will now flip that question on its head, as that’s the direction I need to go with my project, and then we will reverse engineer it at the end.
Premise:
I am wrapping up a RHD to LHD JDM VX Limited body swap onto a LHD chassis. A topic for another time, but long story short the LHD body and interior were absolutely trashed; had been in several wrecks, stolen, rusted, etc. The LHD is a 1994 US Spec FZJ80 triple locked. And as mentioned, thrashed. But has full float and lockers, and the chassis itself seems to be in good shape. Which is basically all I bought it for… Drivetrain and running gear will definitely need to be gone thru when I get it driveable. I swapped in all new PS components prior to teardown as it was leaking out of control.
For the most part, an amazing donor specimen became available which I just planned to rob the interior out of for a grey to brown swap, and then considered removable body panels, then it just snowballed into the entire body haha. Project creep. Tie in that question of ‘of what lengths do you want to go?’ and whatever you consider with your project, it will be less than what I just bit off and am still chewing. The RHD VX is a 1992 JDM HDJ81 with 24v 1HD-T and from what I can tell, the slightly different version of the same transmisison.
Regardless of age, the VX is far superior in almost every aspect, which made it very hard to choose what direction to take the project, how far to go in incorporating the cool little things like a center console cooler, foldable mirrors, headlight washers etc. At the end of the day, it’s full bore. With this invasive of a ‘surgery,’ it wouldn’t have made sense to have everything apart and not take the time to swap wiring over. No biggie, started with the little stuff and moved forward. Some of these things needed to happen anyways as the inner fenders are quite different between the LHD and RHD bodies. So it was a question of do I put in the time to downgrade the system, or a similar amount of time to upgrade.
Then the climate system wiring task was next up.
And s*** was way different between 1992 and 1994.
WTF.
So, I started reading up on it, well, right here in the forums. And found some blips about people asking the difference between auto and manual, then noticed the dip switches on the back of the heater/AC control, then it was full on ok WTF is going on here. So many little things, so many differences – none of it hard, just needed to be catalogued, wires traced, confirmed as different, and move on.
So, at this point aside from having a donor and all parts/harnesses available for both systems, going from manual to auto is incredibly harder than auto to manual. As a generalization, most systems just become unused. Present still, but unused. And I think I found the key for how to swap from Auto to Manual.
For now, you will have to suffer through my pain first, then it will be clear what needs to be done to simply (hopefully, as full disclosure I’m going through this process in real time) the complexities and swap to a manual hvac system. Also big asterisk*** that this is a VX/HDJ81 harness I’m swapping from, and it’s very possible there are small differences from the other AUTO climate harnesses in the FZJ realm. I still haven’t found a 92 HDJ81 FSM; several differences exist from the 1990 HDJ FSM I have.
When I tore down the VX Limited, I numbered all of the harness plugs and for terminations -labeled as best I could what they were plugged in to. Harness to harness plugs all got a number but in some cases were not identified, so I've had to trace the wires from each and attempt to determine what each was supplying. When you see 'Plug 3', that's what the number is referring to - more or less an abstract number based on how the harness was removed.
OK, so without further ado, here is what is NOT PRESENT IN MANUAL CLIMATE WIRING:
- yellow/tan climate logic box 88650-60091 + missing wires, located above the gas pedal/next to the steering column support bracket: there are three connectors going into this box, the big connector is where the differences lie, terminals 6,7,17&21
- 21 = twilight sensor (2 wire - Ground+Grey/White to logic box big connector Male Terminal 16) Grey/White is the wire to the connector, ground attached to the rest of the grounding loom wires. The twilight sensor has a knockout in the dash on the passenger side of where the defrost exits. Easiest to see when the dash is removed from vehicle. Ground is Green/Black wire circuit.
- 7 = interior temp sensor (2 wire - Ground+Grey to logic box big connector Male Terminal 7; plugs into backside of heater control where the vent thru the face is) Grey wire goes to the connector, ground to loom again. Ground is Green wire circuit.
- 6 = Grey/Red wire from logic box big connector Male Terminal 6 to 'Plug 6' thru firewall - TBD what this is (ambient/exterior temp sensor?) I will confirm this soon. Plug 6 Ground is Green wire circuit.
- 17 = Heater core front thermistor wiring (*thermistor is already present* 2 wire - ground + Grey/Blue wire to logic box big connector Male Terminal 17) This is the thermostat wire on the passenger side of the heater core that plugs in by the vertical heater baffle servo that sits on top of the heater core box. This wire and a ground do not exist in the harness and need to be added. Ground is Green wire Circuit.
- Inlet AC core sensor 077800-0021 (white/white connector ‘Plug 2’ above AC, wires differ to this connector, but the main dash harness is the same regardless of terminations - donor AC core wiring harness needed)
- 2 additional relays atop the AC core box (ideally and in order to follow these instructions to a T, get donor AC core harness, possibly entire AC core box - will save you time, explain later)
- Ambient-Interior temp sensor (plugs inline with dash vent tube thru face of heater control) - tan box Terminal 7 in big connector above.
- Ambient-Exterior temp sensor (right now assumption is that it's either plug 6 or plug 7 that carries the wires out to the bumper. Tan Box Terminal 6 in big connector?
_______________________
PLUG 3 White/Yellow
- Plug 3 Male Terminal 6 Yellow/Blue wire needs to be added to the harness and then run to the AC solenoid on the AC line attached to the left inner fender. This would only be required if you're running the center console cooler. Small 2pin black connector plugs into that AC line solenoid.
- Plug 3 Male Terminal 21 (center bottom 3-pack) Yellow/White added to harness and then run to right large body harness plug (runs back along rockers) Male Terminal 19. This would need to be added to the rear/body harness connector side as well, female terminal 19, then run to the center console cooler harness, terminal 2 (middle terminal of 3) You could also have a separate connector for this.
- Plug 3 Male Terminal 13 Yellow/Red needs to be confirmed present in dash cluster pinout mapping; grey connector Tach/turn/idiots. Male terminal 3. This Yellow/Red wire also splits off towards Plug 7 Male connector 7. Whatever plug 7 is.. TBD
_______________________
** For center console cooler solenoid:
- solenoid in AC lines on left inner fender has a small black 2pin connector (plug 10), wired from solinoid Yellow/Red wire to Plug 3 Male terminal 13. TBD ***Yellow/Blue = 12.
- wiring to center console switch (3-wires, TBD to where)
Maunal v Auto Climate logic boxes:
*AC Amplifier: M=88650-60060 <> A=88650-60080 (HDJ) -or- 88650-60212 FZJ (1997) (black box)
*Heater Amplifier M=87161-60020 <> A=87161-60010 (black box)
*M=8-Terminal Jumper Plug with 4 jumper wires <> A=88650-60091 - Three connector logic box (tan box)
How Do I make this more concise?
Here is what you need to go from Manual to Auto:
- AC Control Box 88650-60080
- Heater Control Box 87161-60010
- Tan System Logic Box 88650-60091
- 3 additional wires to tan logic box
- Complete with relays - AC Core Harness + ideally whole AC Core box + sensor 077800-0021
- Twilight Sensor + wiring
- Heater core thermistor wiring
- Ambient interior temp sensor + wiring
- Ambient exterior temp sensor + wiring
- Remove Jumper Plug coming out of main dash harness above/behind steering column support bracket. Would be very difficult to locate with dash still in place. It’s also wrapped in foam and stuffed against the firewall, way up high where the main harness traverses over the steering column bracket/ dash support beam.
Ok so finally, the answer you’re looking for – which to my knowledge without testing anything at all – this is what you would need to do to switch from Auto to Manual climate.
- Manual AC logic box 88650-60060
- Manual Heater logic box 87161-60020
- Remove Tan system logic box 88650-60091
- Add 8pin jumper plug to unused connector above steering column bracket/support beam just to the left of where the tan logic box plugs in. (it’s way up there, hiding) – Pictures coming soon for that pinout.
- Complete AC Core sub-harness with relays etc – swapped in for the Auto version of this harness. (Plug 2 and Plug 3)
- Everything else can remain in place and just not hooked up.
******* I should also state that you probably have to move the dip-switch to the correct location in the back of the heater control box, and you can also remove the blank cover in the front that's over the 'auto' button in the center.
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Can't get much more 'manual' than that. lol
