New (to me) '08 LC--and a Climate Control issue

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mdcoa

mdcoa

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Apr 14, 2017
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Long time lurker, relatively new poster, partly because I picked up my first FWD Toyota last night, so didn't have much to post about previously.

Bought a southern one-owner truck, super clean inside and out, rust free. 145k miles. New radiator, relatively new water pump. Seems to have been well taken care of.

Before purchase I knew the recirc/blender door was not working properly, which I figured wasn't a deal-breaker.

But on the way home last night (~250 miles), I notice 1) If the AC is on, I am freaking freezing, no matter where I set the temp 2) air is coming out of the dash no matter how I set distribution on the controller--no floor or defrost function, 3) heat does not appear to be working. And, less surprisingly, the climate system forgets last setting at startup.

Today I checked the cabin air filter seating and tried to figure out what's wrong with the recirc door--cannot hear the servo making an effort.

Made appt with the local Toyota dealer for this afternoon.

They couldn't diagnose it in an hour, so I now have an appointment for next week, post hurricane, at which they'll tear out the bottom of the center console and try to find out why all the flap-controlling servos are refusing to do their jobs.

Hoping it's a faulty servo or two and not the whole climate control module that's to blame. Have done a fair amount of searching and haven't found a mud thread on this--if there's one, or if anyone has ideas other than paying the dealer 3 hours' labor to tear into things and figure out how many thousand I owe them, I'm all ears.

IMG_4339.webp
 
So none of the servos are working and it is defaulting to a factory setting every time you restart the car? Is there a harness unplugged somewhere? Just a positive thought?
 
I guess it’s possible, although I’d think an unplugged harness would throw a clear enough code that the tech would have figured it out yesterday. But you could fill volumes with what I don’t know about Toyota codes....
I’m also assuming they checked the relevant fuses which I should’ve checked before bringing it in and will do tomight...
Thanks!
 
Techstream will identify trouble codes with the HVAC system. On my truck, it identified that the Recirc door was non-functional . I would definitely start there.

There are Techstream how-to threads on this forum.
 
Thanks for both replies—I’ll look into tech stream, since I’ll certainly need it in the future, although in this case it probably won’t tell me anything the dealer tech wasn’t able to pull off, which wasn’t enough for him to offer a final diagnosis—apparently they’ll need to physically access the servos to see whether they’re faulty or the control unit is.
Tech said on a later mode 200 the system would give him a bit more info, but in this case he’s going. To have to get old fashioned.
And re the blend door, i will absolutely use the fix it thread linked to in the poll thread, but reckon I’ll wait until the larger problem is diagnosed, since, depending on how bad it is, I may not keep the truck.
I guess it’s working—I bought this truck because I’m tired of wrenching on the rest of our fleet in the driveway and am immediately hit with a problem I can’t wrench on....
 
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PS--saw a post over on this thread from @M1911 who mentions having his head unit replaced to fix a non-functioning defroster. I may be headed down that road, except for the warranty part, unfortunately.

If the dealer says it is the head unit, maybe I'll chuck one of these android vertical screens on, like @tlcruiserman.

Or should I just get one of those and install it, saving myself the $300 the dealer diagnosis is liable to cost, based on the fact that it's highly unlikely that all three/four /howevermany servos failed at once and the head unit is likely deceased?
 
Thanks, @Bronevichok--yup, those were the culprits, and that's about how they look. . . dealer tech has cleaned them up and is in the process of addressing other issues. Looks like the system is working, but the recirc servo is showing as inop. He's going to replace that tomorrow and see if it does the trick. . .

I found out during a recent rain event that both sunroof drains were thoroughly clogged and water was making its way down both a-pillars, which doubtless caused this issue.

Seems like a poor design to put crucial connections precisely where the sunroof overflow goes if people forget to clear the drains. . . .

I see in the maintenance record that the PO replaced the body control module and body ecu in June--I'm guessing those issues were also caused by sunroof-caused water ingress. And how did the dealer that did the BCM and ECU replacement not realize a sunroof drain clog was the culprit?

Question--provided the dealer can get the CC working, should I hang on to this truck or walk away? The seller (who is a fantastic guy and had no clue anything was amiss) will take it back if I want to undo the whole deal. I'm wondering what other gremlins may be lurking, if the ECU, BCM, and main harness connections have already exhibited problems in the last few months. The truck is otherwise in great shape--engine is strong, chassis looks immaculate, handles well, interior pretty good, and I like the color, and I'm so not ready to look for a replacement, so part of me wants to make it work. . . but part of me says "run away!"
 
mdcoa said:
I found out during a recent rain event that both sunroof drains were thoroughly clogged and water was making its way down both a-pillars, which doubtless caused this issue.
Click to expand...
In my case left drain tube was disconnected from sunroof drain hole. I connected tube back and issue has been resolved. I checked all remaining tubes (front/rear) and fixed them by tie wire.
 
Nice work!

The drains in my case were not disconnected--once I cleared them out, they drained fine, without draining to the inside. Wiring harness junctions were beyond repair, however, so I gave the car back to the dealer I bought it from (who bought it wholesale and had no idea it had an issue) and got a full refund.

Back in the market . . . currently hot on the trail of the first non-overpriced 100 series I've seen in months.
 
mdcoa said:
Thanks, @Bronevichok--yup, those were the culprits, and that's about how they look. . . dealer tech has cleaned them up and is in the process of addressing other issues. Looks like the system is working, but the recirc servo is showing as inop. He's going to replace that tomorrow and see if it does the trick. . .

I found out during a recent rain event that both sunroof drains were thoroughly clogged and water was making its way down both a-pillars, which doubtless caused this issue.

Seems like a poor design to put crucial connections precisely where the sunroof overflow goes if people forget to clear the drains. . . .

I see in the maintenance record that the PO replaced the body control module and body ecu in June--I'm guessing those issues were also caused by sunroof-caused water ingress. And how did the dealer that did the BCM and ECU replacement not realize a sunroof drain clog was the culprit?

Question--provided the dealer can get the CC working, should I hang on to this truck or walk away? The seller (who is a fantastic guy and had no clue anything was amiss) will take it back if I want to undo the whole deal. I'm wondering what other gremlins may be lurking, if the ECU, BCM, and main harness connections have already exhibited problems in the last few months. The truck is otherwise in great shape--engine is strong, chassis looks immaculate, handles well, interior pretty good, and I like the color, and I'm so not ready to look for a replacement, so part of me wants to make it work. . . but part of me says "run away!"
Click to expand...


I’d be at his door now. Electrical gremlins are no fun.
 
Yup, took it back Tuesday.the fact that the dealer was unable to fix the cc issue without replacing front and rear harnesses (a $7k ish job) allowed me to stop agonizing over whether to bring it back. Seller was an absolute gentleman about it.
So it was an expensive lesson....but way less expensive than it could have been.
 
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