'02 Upgrade standard climate control to auto climate control unit?

bradym239

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Does anyone know if this is a simple plug and play type of thing or is it a major undertaking? If so, does anyone know where I could look into purchasing this unit? Any and all help is greatly appreciated. I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about, but I've attached a pic of it just in case.

Here
 
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I don't know if it would be simple plug and play since auto climate controls include temp sensors. I don't know if those are installed on standard climate control, and may need to be.
 
I am not sure if it is the same on the 02's, but on the 03's the temperature sensor are mounted on the drivers side of the dash around where the VIN number is. If you look there and you see a sensor, then i am pretty sure it would be plug and play. If there is just a plastic insert, then you have a big job. I don't know if it is worth all of the work and money. I find myself manually adjusting the A/C on my truck a lot of the time. That is my .02.
 
Mark86 said:
I am not sure if it is the same on the 02's, but on the 03's the temperature sensor are mounted on the drivers side of the dash around where the VIN number is.

Actually, I was looking in the wiring diagram this evening as I am finally getting tired of driving around and not having my auto-on headlights in my 03 ltd come on automatically until it's really past the time I feel they should have come on. well, I found out that there are two "bubble" sensors there on the drivers side, one is the headlight sensor, the other is related to the a/c. it's not actually a temp sensor, but rather a light sensor to see if the front seats are sitting in the sun. the a/c room temp sensor for the 03/04 are at the driver's right knee behind a small grill. the wiring diagram shows nothing about a special temperature sensor for the passenger. only other temperature sensor are the a/c ambient temp sensor (in the engine compartment) and the a/c evaporator temp sensor (somewhere in the blower area? didn't look that closely).

If there are a couple of differences between the single climate and dual climate control setups of the 03 sr5/sport and 03 limited. they are:

  • there's an extra air mix server motor to direct a different temperature air into the passenger side (and prolly associated special ducting).
  • the a/c solar sensor on the dash seems to have an extra input into the a/c control assembly

with that said, I know you're talking about a 3rd gen, not a 4th gen, but I'd imagine fundamentally they'd be the same. You'd prolly need to change some ducting stuff, add the extra server motor, swap out the a/c control assembly (AKA a/c ecu?) for a dual climate zone, swap out your controls, and maybe a few extra wires run.

One of the selling points I chose the limited over the sport was this dual climate, and it works, but isn't as useful as I thought it'd be. I wouldn't think it's worth all that work, though. I'd rather spend that $$ on something different. But that's just me...YMMV

Kevin
 
Thanks guys, you gave me a lot to think about. It's probably a no-go (especially if it's as much work as it seems). It was something that I just thought would be useful to have. Again, I really appreciate your input.

Regards,

Brady
 

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