Newbie With A/C, Heating Issues

[Notn2bars]

We purchased an 07 FJ and are really enjoying it. My wife has always liked the looks of the FJ and after giving our aging jeep liberty to our grandson, we picked up the FJ. Fortunately, this particular unit does not have an ounce of rust.We are trying to figure out what is going on with the heating and cooling in our FJ. We have only had it since about March of this year. Recenly replaced the front bearings, axles, seals and etc. This week, replaced the u-joints on the rear drive shaft. Anyway, trying to get her up to par. The A/C blows super cold on the passenger side, but the driver's side vent takes forever to get cold and never gets as cold as the passenger side. We live in South Texas and until today had not used the FJ without the A/C running. Hot air is blowing out of all the vents. Turning the mode knob on the dash didn't seem to change direction of air flow. Changed out the mode actuator. Still no luck. The more serious issue is the accordian door on the blower assembly. While changing out the mode actuator, I made the mistake of pushing on the blower assembly door and I heard a sickening snap. Now the blower assembly door will not go up or down when pushing the recirculating button on the dash. Sooooo, is it possible to remove the complete blower assembly (not just the motor and squirrel cage) without removing the entire dash? Does the temp. control knob send a signal to a different actuator? The actuator I changed out was the one in the upper rear by the firewall. Would like to make the needed repairs. Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated. God Bless, Ed

 

[aztoyman]

My wife has an 08 FJ. Bought it new. Her A/C blows cold on the passenger side and warm on the driver side when the charge is low.

I was stumped at first because it doesn't really make sense but when I put gauges on it, the charge was low. Charged it up and back to normal.

Every few years it needs a boost.

I can't comment on your other question as I've never had the A/C or dash apart.

 

[mtnbiker4evr13]

The HVAC system is basically the same as the 4th gen 4runner setup. This summer I tore it all out to do a new evaporator core and cant remember if any of the actuators would give the pass/driver symptoms you're describing. Simple enough to get pressures checked to make sure its charged fully as @aztoyman suggested.

The snap on the other hand.. to pull the whole blower side out requires removing the dash. but you might be able to sneak an arm up to fix the servos if you're flexible. I still need to repair my Re-circulation door cam as I found it was broken when I pulled it all out but didn't have the time to wait for a part.

If you take on the project of pulling the dash its tedious but not horrendous, there are a couple helpful youtube videos and be prepared to pull the cowl to get a couple steering column bolts that are perfectly shrouded so that if you drop a bolt it goes into Pandora's box Also if you do pull the dash go ahead and replace the evaporator core since the job sucks... would be good to not have to do it again ever...

Might be a helpful thread-
FJcruiserforum AC Thread

 

[BMThiker]

Not a great pic, but the AC shop that replaced my evap core sent me this pic midway through the job. It's unreal what has to come out to work on the AC stuff under the dash.

 

[Notn2bars]

My sincere thanks to all of you who took the time and effort to reply to my questions. Nice pic BMThiker, looks kinda like the dash scramble in our old motorhome. I have the skills to do the job, but at 72 years old, not something I particularly want to tackle. Both the mode actuator and air mix acuator are cycling correctly. Looked under the dash today and could see both of those working. Could not tell if the third actuator was working. Looks like it would be possible to get to it if I remove some of the stuff out of the way and stand on my head. Not going to be able to tackle that at least until Friday. Wife has me putting up crown molding in the kitchen and living area. (What a PITA, would rather work on the FJ) I looked at a friends 07 4 Runner today and looks like the same blower assembly as the 07 FJ. At least that gives me another option for parts hunting if we need the blower assembly. You guys are a blessing. God Bless, Ed

 

[mtnbiker4evr13]

It's unreal what has to come out to work on the AC stuff under the dash.

Can confirm, its EVERYTHING to do an evap core.

But doable in a day if you hustle and remember where everything goes

 

[Notn2bars]

Can confirm, its EVERYTHING to do an evap core.

But doable in a day if you hustle and remember where everything goes

LMAO, maybe doable in a day for you. I can no longer remember where everything goes, so I have to take pics with the phone for every connection and screw. That means stopping to take pics takes longer than doing the actual job. So a day job for you is probably a 2 day job for me.