I spent a lot of time looking at how to replace the blower assembly and the others on here who have looked at it too are right, the dash has to come out. It’s doable, but pulling the dash is a major job and if you tackle it yourself you’ll be without your truck for a while. Much better use of time to repair the mechanism rather than replace, IMHO.
IMPORTANT: Check your HVAC recirculate door and answer Poll
- Thread starter John E Davies
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
Yeah I was considering how to repair it. The part that broke was the bottom of the little hole. I was thinking it might be able to bend a little piece of metal so that the door will catch on the rotating part, but the space is so tight to work in and I have such giant meat paws that I'd have to take the housing out to fix it anyway.
Side note: I'm not 100% that a mechanic broke it, honestly. The motor has basically a little plastic nub that rotates the door. It seems like a lot of stress on that part (relatively speaking), so it's possible the plastic just cracks and gives out over time, especially depending on the temp/humidity/etc being applied to that plastic on a regular basis.
It would be awesome if someone figured out how to 3D print a repair for this. It's probably $0.10 in plastic (at least for my issue) to print some sort of insert that would mesh with the motor "nub" and just glue onto the remaining part of the recirc door. I'd gladly pay $50 or more for a (probably) permanent fix like that.
BTW the blower assembly removal (which includes the recirc door) is a 2 step process
It's the AC removal in step 1a that has 18 subparts more complicated than an annual Ferrari engine out service 
Seriously, why do you need to drain the entire AC system to replace the blower assembly? It was but that was the cost on the bill before warranty coverage. Net cost to me was zero
bloc
SILVER Star
I’m betting it is mostly dealers doing the damage here, as the vast majority of these expensive vehicles are dealer-only for the maintenance for the first owner.
I think the problem with a 3D printed fix is many of these seem to break in different ways. I know my crack was quite different than a bunch of the others I’ve seen. Still it might be a good option with some development.Yeah I was considering how to repair it. The part that broke was the bottom of the little hole. I was thinking it might be able to bend a little piece of metal so that the door will catch on the rotating part, but the space is so tight to work in and I have such giant meat paws that I'd have to take the housing out to fix it anyway.
Side note: I'm not 100% that a mechanic broke it, honestly. The motor has basically a little plastic nub that rotates the door. It seems like a lot of stress on that part (relatively speaking), so it's possible the plastic just cracks and gives out over time, especially depending on the temp/humidity/etc being applied to that plastic on a regular basis.
It would be awesome if someone figured out how to 3D print a repair for this. It's probably $0.10 in plastic (at least for my issue) to print some sort of insert that would mesh with the motor "nub" and just glue onto the remaining part of the recirc door. I'd gladly pay $50 or more for a (probably) permanent fix like that.
BTW the blower assembly removal (which includes the recirc door) is a 2 step process
View attachment 2575594
To answer the ac evacuate question.. when I took a good look at it the evap core had to come out before the blower housing would.
Whoever notched the left side of the filter retainer so they could remove the whole door and fix it on a bench was brilliant.. were I to have to redo this fix that is what I’d be doing.
I'm tempted to first try slipping a fat rubber o-ring around the motor "pin" (or whatever you want to call it) and see if friction is sufficient to hold it to the recirc door.
Hacking the housing a bit to get it out in order to fix it would be my next option, but not until it warms up. It was -4F this morning - too cold to be futzing around in my garage until spring when temps get into the 50s at least. From the photo in your thread (cropped below) I'm wondering if I can just dremel off the reinforcement triangles and bend the housing inward a bit to pop that out, rather than needing to completely cut it. Though really even if I do need to cut it, so long as I'm messing with epoxy I'm sure I can just epoxy a new hunk of plastic to the existing housing to fit it all back together.
If I can get the old door out, even if I have to replace the door I'd rather drop $300 on a replacement motor assembly and just pull the door off that than dismantle the whole dash and drain the A/C. And perhaps if I'm lucky I can find a used one for cheap from a wrecked 200 which isn't broken...
bloc
SILVER Star
The refrigerant evac/fill is pretty standard procedure for OEMs though, where just swapping assemblies makes the most sense. Definitely not for us working in our driveways. I doubt you even could fill your system at -4f!
As long as you can find all the parts in there I think the fix is a good substitute for replacement, when you consider how much more work is necessary. I was skeptical my version would hold because of the compromises I had to make due to limited access, but it is working great with no signs of loosening up. I guess it is lower torque than I had imagined.
Thanks. It does look like Permabond maxes a polypropylene epoxy, so I'm going to try to use that when I attempt the fix.
In my case I can't tell if the little plastic bit is still inside the assembly for me to actually weld/glue it back together, or if I will need to fab something up. hopefully it's in there and just shifted somewhere I can't see or feel it
In my case I can't tell if the little plastic bit is still inside the assembly for me to actually weld/glue it back together, or if I will need to fab something up. hopefully it's in there and just shifted somewhere I can't see or feel it
About to get the 10k service. What are the odds my “add a warning” will work?
I would lock the glovebox and not give them the physical key...
gaijin
GOLD Star
THIS!!!
Whatever I bring my LC200 to the dealer for, I lock the glovebox and keep the key. I never want to be surprised again with one of their free 14-point inspections
Yes, you can just Dremel off enough of the ridge (more than the triangles) to get the door out. That's what I did and it worked fine.
Edit: I consider my fix stronger than the original mechanism. The reinforcement I added is very strong. I'm not sure about an O-ring lasting in there. If you do that, get a high quality one that won't deteriorate with age.
Zero. So many have been broken, despite an obvious additional sign, including mine. The "tech" doing the filter is likely ignorant of the LC process and does NOT read warning labels. There are even YouTubes that show an INCORRECT procedure, guaranteed to break the door.
Lock the box and do the filter yourself, in recirc!
I'm not convinced it's always a tech breaking it. Especially since mine used to work *and* I have a big warning label on mine with a giant triangle *and* I once tried to put some decent pressure on it with the unit in fresh air mode and it didn't budge - I have to say it would take a pretty dumb tech to apply the amount of force required to break that door. Certainly possible of course.
How often does the A/C system automatically open and close that door? I can easily imagine heat and humidity breaking down the plastic over time, or cold fresh air making the little part at the end of the arm brittle, or the door internally binding up and the motor breaking it
@Sandroad do you have a posting of your repair? Wondering how you did yours
I'm completely convinced it's the dealer techs breaking them. The fancy new label did no good on mine (only 30,000 miles and 3 years old). The techs will absolutely use enough force to break the mechanism before they would even dream of reading/learning about how to do it right.
I did not do a separate posting of my repair, I simply contributed what I did to existing threads. Here's a quick summary copy and pasted from a couple of those posts::
I repaired the female part on the door because on mine that's what was broken. I disassembled things enough to remove the door and did the gluing and reinforcing on my workbench. The only tricky part is you have to cut a small triangle out of the left hand side of the support frame for the white door to get the door past the support. There are excellent threads on here with extremely useful step by step guides with photos for pretty much any part of the mechanism that's broken. Before you start, read through those and you'll get a good idea of what you're in for and what tools/glue you need. I used the 2-part 3M product listed in one of the threads and it was the perfect glue for the job. 3M PR1500 and 3M AC77
I did not do a separate posting of my repair, I simply contributed what I did to existing threads. Here's a quick summary copy and pasted from a couple of those posts::
I repaired the female part on the door because on mine that's what was broken. I disassembled things enough to remove the door and did the gluing and reinforcing on my workbench. The only tricky part is you have to cut a small triangle out of the left hand side of the support frame for the white door to get the door past the support. There are excellent threads on here with extremely useful step by step guides with photos for pretty much any part of the mechanism that's broken. Before you start, read through those and you'll get a good idea of what you're in for and what tools/glue you need. I used the 2-part 3M product listed in one of the threads and it was the perfect glue for the job. 3M PR1500 and 3M AC77
Last edited:
Sigh. My wife was just complaining about this. Checked and broken :/ 2016 with 60k.
Just wanted to post my experience here. I purchased a used 2019 (24k miles) with full service records in January ‘21. The LC is still under 3yr/36k factory warranty. I had been shopping 2016+ 200s for a few months prior and have been lurking here as a result.
Thanks to this thread I knew to check for the recirc door and sure enough it was broken at time of purchase. I had the selling dealer document it as part of a “we owe” statement. Following the purchase, I brought the LC in for the service department’s assessment of recirc door. They confirmed it was broken but would not warranty the work. Their explanation was that it was caused by external factors (a technician) and is not warrantable as a result. It would be a free repair (to me) since it was covered under the terms of sale by my own advocacy.
I’m thankful the repair was made at no cost to myself but irritated that they claimed this isn’t a warranty worthy repair. Just means that I’ll double down on locking the glove box prior to future service visits so I don’t end up on the hook for a ~$2k dealer repair in the future.
OA
Thanks to this thread I knew to check for the recirc door and sure enough it was broken at time of purchase. I had the selling dealer document it as part of a “we owe” statement. Following the purchase, I brought the LC in for the service department’s assessment of recirc door. They confirmed it was broken but would not warranty the work. Their explanation was that it was caused by external factors (a technician) and is not warrantable as a result. It would be a free repair (to me) since it was covered under the terms of sale by my own advocacy.
I’m thankful the repair was made at no cost to myself but irritated that they claimed this isn’t a warranty worthy repair. Just means that I’ll double down on locking the glove box prior to future service visits so I don’t end up on the hook for a ~$2k dealer repair in the future.
OA
Last edited:
Do you have the truck back? Any squeaks or damage from them removing the dash? That’s a big job for a dealer.
@omar rva That sucks. I think it really depends on the service department person you talk to. I told him that I think a dealer did it. He said that it would be nearly impossible to find out and that Toyota could use that as a reason to deny the claim. So we just said it was broken. Toyota even required a regional service "person" (don't remember the right title) come look at the damage to verify it would be warrantable. That put me back a day, then a weekend (three days!). Luckily, that person said it would be covered. I am really kicking myself for not checking on this before purchasing the vehicle. I knew it was an issue while I was looking for an LC. I really lucked out. Let this thread be a reminder to anyone still looking to buy, ALWAYS CHECK THE RECIRC HOOD. Always.
@04UZJ100 I'm a little disappointed in the work performed when they took my dash out. There are scratches in the leather on the steering wheel, on the shifter and there are scratches on the "metalic" plastic of the climate control unit. They're not huge gouges, but little things that make my 2018 feel older than it is. But, I'm telling myself that is the way it goes, and that at some point, I'm sure I'd scratch it, too. I'm wondering if a silver Sharpie would cover some of those imperfections.
