We just purchased our 2012 SR5 4Runner a couple of weeks ago. The weather here in the Midwest has been in the upper 80's the past two days. We decided to check out the AC in the 4Runner. It seems like even with the recirculating button pressed there is just not a lot of volume coming out of the vents. We have the fan on high and like I said, recirculating. The air does get cold, but not super cold like my 98 does. The AC in the 98 will run you out of the truck if you leave it on high. Does anyone notice the AC being insufficient in the 2010 and up ?

Just got my SR5 last Thursday. The temp here was in the low 90's on Sunday, but the AC seemed to work just fine... Not as good as the one in my 05 Grand Cherokee I traded in on this, but seemed to work fine... I even had to turn it off a couple of times for everyone else in the 4Runner getting cold. The biggest issue with the AC I've noticed is the back seat vents don't blow very hard so I have to send the front seat vents to the back.

Yeah, the airflow to the back seats leaves a lot to be desired. A little stronger blower motor would help the entire system a bunch. I just pulled out the window sticker from our 98 Limited and it was almost 38K list. List on the 2012 was $41K. Not much difference in 14 years. I guess they cut costs where ever they can.

i think i agree with you that the AC could blow a little bit harder in the front. The back seat vents definitely suck for sure.

FWIW, the A/C in my Limited blows me out of the truck in the front. It may be, however, due to the fact that the limited has the dual climate control so it may have better blower motors. Sorry it's not as good on yours bro.

I do remember reading somewhere that someone discovered the ducts for the rear passengers were a little loose and caused an air leak. All they did was wrap them in ducting tape and that helped significantly.

Fan or blower volume is one issue, temp of whatever air is coming out is another issue. Try turning DOWN your fan to say midway. Keep in mind, in order to cool the air, it must travel over cooling coils. The faster the air is forced over these coils, the less time it has to cool. In other words, by turning the fan down, you may not have as much air, but it will be cooler.....

I think the standard is a 20 degree drop (at the vent) from whatever the temp is outside, with the fan on mid way. If you have a portable temp gauge, you can check that yourself. If still not cold enough, you might need it to be checked by the dealer for a coolant leak etc. As far as volume in the rear vents, as stated above, could be loose vents, weak blower etc. Might want to have the dealer check that one out too......be safe.

Every new vehicle owner cannot help but compare individual system's performance (tires, handling, 4WD, fit and finish, air conditioning, stereo, etc) to their previous vehicle(s). This is understandable. I will say that the air conditioning in my SR5 Black 4Runner does just fine, even in South Carolina summers. Remember that you have a bigger volume of air to cool than on your '98 model due to the interior space difference of the vehicles. I had a regular cab truck several years ago that would cool off in seconds. I can't expect the 4Runner to do the same as the volume is so much bigger. Just give it a little time.

I had heard/read that the new 4runners don't cool as well as the 3rd gens but my experience with it the last week or so has been a good experience, in fact, after my sons soccer game on Saturday, on the way home at 3:30pm (90 degrees out), he asked me to turn the air down he was so cold that was just a few minutes into driving it .....so I turned it down to the first or second notch, recirculated, he was sitting in the second row too....granted, I could have left it turned up more but you do what you do for your children....

I had the same in my 97, it would cool like nothing else I'd ever owned, it never had to be charged in the 15 years I'd owned it....

-Ian

What's funny is that I'm in basically the exact opposite situation as the OP.

Instead of a 3rd Gen Limited, I used to own a 3rd Gen SR5. Instead of the current 5th Gen SR5 he owns, I own a 5th Gen Limited; moreover, I personally think the 5th Gen Limited's A/C is leaps and bounds better than the old one.

Maybe it's a Limited vs SR5 thing. Who knows?

I live in South Carolina and the AC in my Limited works quite well. Even driving in stop and go city traffic, I still get plenty of cool air on days with 90+ degree days. I strictly leave my system on auto so it determines the fan speed and recircualtion settings. Maybe that has something to do with the difference? Don't recall if the SR5 has the auto climate control.

My SR5 doesn't seem to blow air very forcefully either.

As stated above, there's more volume to cool in the 5th Gen vs the previous Gen T4R's.

One thing to keep in mind is the amount of glass allowing heat/light to enter the vehicle thus keeping it warm. Window tinting works wonders of cutting the heat/light transmission. Prior to the tint, 75* felt hot when driving. With the vehicle tinted, 80* with the vent on and rear window down around halfway is comfortable.

The blower motors in the SR5's is insufficient, hands down. Any vehicle I have ever been in will blow much more air. For awhile I even closed the rear vents hoping that would help but nothing. The heat works decent enough in the winter so that's all that REALLY matters. Although nothing compares to this 91' VW Passat I had. Had to strip apart the dash to put in a new heater core but after that, 2-3 minutes tops of driving and it was a sauna in there, so hot!!

My blower practically knocks my hat off and AC work great on my Limited. A record 70 days above 100 degrees last year and cooler then the other side of the pillow in the truck. Complaints on the Limiteds dual climate controls have been that it doesn't get hot enough quick enough in the sub zero north climates

It looks like the fans are the same so it has to be in the switches for dual climate control vs. the non dual climate control fan switches.
Sounds like a challenge for..............Antman and his sidekick 1engineer!!!

Needs more power!

yeah i think the blowers would be the same, but the dual climate control controlled by dampers in the system. The system does make a lot of noise for what would be considered lower flow...

Put it on Max AC, and place the dial on upper vents, pointing them your chest/head. You'll cool off in no time.