Recently the 2 front drivers vent on left side are not blowing out cold air, like the rest of the vents. The 2 front passenger vents and back vents are OK.
Mechanic states there is a small leak in the evaporator core and they would have to remove the steering wheel & dashboard to repair. It would probably take 5 to 6 hours of labor, costing around $500.00 And the cost to replace the evaporator core is around $200. So total cost of $700 plus.

Does this sound resonable?

Has anyone tried to take apart their dash to get to this part/area? Is it hard?

What do you all recommend???

Do NOT try to do this yourself and make sure you get a warranty on the whole repair. It doesnt sound like a leak in the core though. It sounds more like a broken blend door. The entire evap box would have to be replaced in that case. In this case i believe the dealer is the best place to go to get it done right.

Do NOT try to do this yourself and make sure you get a warranty on the whole repair. It doesnt sound like a leak in the core though.

Agreed. A leak = uniformly warm air every where.

R & R HVAC box = nightmare.

Either way this is a very difficult repair...

If its the Evap Core (Doubtful from the fact that you have partial cold air), the system needs to be vaccumed of refrigerant and then they have to tear apart the dash and replace the unit followed by recharging your system. That's a rough view of what they will do.

If its the HVAC box they could have to do that plus dig more in the dash/center console area to replace the unit, it should be covered under warranty by Toyota, so check with your dealership.

As was stated above get a warranty on your repair, because if even one small thing is done wrong you don't want to have to pay for them to repi open the dash again.

One more thing I would reccomend your mechanic to check is the refrigerent pressure in your Air Conditioning System. Our '06+ Camry's seem to do this whole; No cold ai on the driver's vents thing when they are low on refrigerent... Why they do this I have never figured out. But it could be a similar issue in which case it is potentially a less expensive repair.

Did you try to clean the interior temperature sensor? There is a small vent(slots) on the lower dash panel below the ignition with a tube attached to the back side of it that is drawing in air when the automatic ventilation system is on. There is a sensor at the other end of the tube that senses the interior temp to regulate the system. After a time that sensor can become covered in dust/lint which can cause the system to operate irratically. There are other threads on this subject if you search this site.

I believe that sensor should only affect the system when it is in 'Automatic' mode and that manual settings shouldn't be affected by that.

how was this problem resolved?

old post but just wanted to add important accurate info for anyone else searching this problem.

the 4runner a/c system acts weird in that this is the normal result of when the system runs low on Freon, the side of the evaporator for the passenger compartment still blows cold but the rear vents and the drivers side will be warm air.

add 1 can of Freon and everything will work fine again. finding the leak is your next challenge, if its the evaporator is a huge expense to replace, the whole dash needs to come out right down to the bare firewall