HVAC Blower Motor = weak sauce... (1 Viewer)

[re_guderian]

Not sure if this "normal", or not, but the airflow output from the blower motor on my 2011 Base HVAC is meh at best. Only a few mentions on CL that this might be "just how it is", but on high, it hardly blows you away, like all my other cars have. I changed the cabin air filter with no real discernable results. The season for Life-Support (aka AC) is just around the corner here, so hoping to get it remedied soon.

My fan has 7 level from L to H, and the bottom 4, from Lo through Med feel like there is no discernable difference in air movement and very little in fan speed/noise. Is this the nature of the beast?

Hoping it might be a simple fan motor issue, I unplugged the blower motor, and measured voltage between the blue signal and black wires on the dash side of the harness at all fan speeds as follows.

Lo 4.67V
2 4.84V
3 5.93V
M 6.68V
5 7.69V
6 8.95V
H 10.6V

Now, I can't find anything to compare those to, but the increments below M seem pretty small. Hoping this isn't an expensive AC amplifier/ECU issue. No codes show in Techstream. I have 13+ V from black wire to ground with engine running. Also wondering why H wouldn't pass all 12V to the fan?

Anyone had similar issues and resolved?

 

[Tex68w]

It's hard to say without sitting in your vehicle but Toyota/Lexus has never been known for fantastic Air Conditioning and they tend to be less cold and blow with less force than other foreign and domestics that I've owned.

 

[r2m]

This may sound stupid, but are sure all your airways are not obstructed or is the air filter dirty? In other vehicles I've had, I've seen leaves and stuff get in the airways and cause the air flow to drop. Or the intake to the air filter.
If you have an air compressor, try blowing out some of the vents.

 

[re_guderian]

Checked airways as much as possible with flexible inspection camera, and new cabin air filter. Found this setting in Techstream, under Air Conditioning, and turned it off. Not sure if it helped, but it made me feel better...

 

[1ounce]

Interesting thread. I agree that most 'yota AC's were not anything to write home about. My 4th gen 4runner is barely adequate, so I'm hoping the GX does better in the 115* summers here...

 

[re_guderian]

Interesting thread. I agree that most 'yota AC's were not anything to write home about. My 4th gen 4runner is barely adequate, so I'm hoping the GX does better in the 115* summers here...

I'm with you, and nervously awaiting summer. Hopefully it isn't as long and hot as last summer was. I also ran across something on another forum about it adding extra fan when on defrost, which may explain why it doesn't get the full 12V on vent/face mode.

 

[r2m]

Interesting thread. I agree that most 'yota AC's were not anything to write home about. My 4th gen 4runner is barely adequate, so I'm hoping the GX does better in the 115* summers here...

About 2 years ago my wife and I visited my Dad in Texas just north of Austin in July. It was deep in the triple digit temp's going there from So. Cal (through the southern route). As we were driving we had the AC down to about 60° F and I kept feeling warm air blowing on me even with the seat coolers on! We just could not cool down! I had this sick feeling that something was wrong (read: $$$$). After checking a few things out, I discovered that our third climate control, the one for the second row seats had the thermostat set at 78° F!! It was blowing hot air on to us in the front to compensate for what the front was trying to cool down.
Set the rear climate to 70° F and raised our front thermostats to 70° and walla-walla! We were then getting TOO cold!!
We had to bring all the temps up a couple of degrees and it was perfect the rest of the trip.
Point being, you'll be fine!

Also a little tip, if you want the seat coolers to work better, have some of the cold air blowing down at your feet. The cold air down there will circulate up under and through the seats and cool you better.

 

[re_guderian]

About 2 years ago my wife and I visited my Dad in Texas just north of Austin in July. It was deep in the triple digit temp's going there from So. Cal (through the southern route). As we were driving we had the AC down to about 60° F and I kept feeling warm air blowing on me even with the seat coolers on! We just could not cool down! I had this sick feeling that something was wrong (read: $$$$). After checking a few things out, I discovered that our third climate control, the one for the second row seats had the thermostat set at 78° F!! It was blowing hot air on to us in the front to compensate for what the front was trying to cool down.
Set the rear climate to 70° F and raised our front thermostats to 70° and walla-walla! We were then getting TOO cold!!
We had to bring all the temps up a couple of degrees and it was perfect the rest of the trip.
Point being, you'll be fine!

Also a little tip, if you want the seat coolers to work better, have some of the cold air blowing down at your feet. The cold air down there will circulate up under and through the seats and cool you better.

I dunno.... In AZ deserts, the rear (and front) AC on the 100's was always set to Auto, and max cold. The 460 interior volume isn't THAT much smaller. Set to 70 is not gonna cut it around here. It's max cold, and max fan, pretty much all summer long, all day long. Interior temps well over 140 degrees after just parking for a bit, even with sunroof and windows cracked. The AC fan just doesn't move the air volume of my other cars. My Ford C-Max vents will blow the stubble on my face around...