I noticed that the 4runner has pretty weak blowing A/C and it is not ice cold. It is cold but not freezing. My old lexus sc430 would freeze your fingers in a minute on low haha. I attributed it to maybe a bigger condenser in a v8 or something. like others have said; fork out the cash for ceramic tint all around and life will be good again.
‘16 weak A/C ... just deal with it?
- Thread starter bluecollarjock
- Start date
Sonoran_Desert
Member
Try This
I had an 2017 SR5 with the same issue. I lived with it through the 2018 Tucson summer. I had Cool A/C but not cold A/C. I finally fixed the problem last month by doing this:
1. While driving (on a deserted road ideally) turn Temp to Max Cold (hard left on the Temp dial)
2. Turn Fan to Max High (hard right on the Fan dial)
3. After a few seconds, dial the Air Flow position dial to the setting two clicks left of Defrost which is a person icon with down arrow to legs and a defrost icon and wait a few seconds.
4. Now rather aggressively dial air flow position to the left, selecting the Air Flow position with a person icon and an arrow down to legs and arrow right to face (A few clicks off hard left)
You will hear a vent shut. It was that open vent, likely leading to the engine compartment or outside, which was competing the A/C cold air flow into the cabin, at least for my situation.
After dong 1-4 above once, I no longer have to go through those steps. Possibly factory settings somehow stick the vent open until a one-time force shut using this "procedure".
I had an 2017 SR5 with the same issue. I lived with it through the 2018 Tucson summer. I had Cool A/C but not cold A/C. I finally fixed the problem last month by doing this:
1. While driving (on a deserted road ideally) turn Temp to Max Cold (hard left on the Temp dial)
2. Turn Fan to Max High (hard right on the Fan dial)
3. After a few seconds, dial the Air Flow position dial to the setting two clicks left of Defrost which is a person icon with down arrow to legs and a defrost icon and wait a few seconds.
4. Now rather aggressively dial air flow position to the left, selecting the Air Flow position with a person icon and an arrow down to legs and arrow right to face (A few clicks off hard left)
You will hear a vent shut. It was that open vent, likely leading to the engine compartment or outside, which was competing the A/C cold air flow into the cabin, at least for my situation.
After dong 1-4 above once, I no longer have to go through those steps. Possibly factory settings somehow stick the vent open until a one-time force shut using this "procedure".
Last edited:
borfoo3
New member
You only know a good A/C system if you live somewhere warm enough to find out.
My A/C works 'on spec', yet I found the 4Runner A/C as one of the weakest I've owned. Rear passengers in summers will not get cool air
I added ceramic tints, an auxiliary fan up front that runs with with compressor, keep filters clean...etc. It helped a bit, and I got used to being a bit warmer than I like. That is the sad truth.
My A/C works 'on spec', yet I found the 4Runner A/C as one of the weakest I've owned. Rear passengers in summers will not get cool air
I added ceramic tints, an auxiliary fan up front that runs with with compressor, keep filters clean...etc. It helped a bit, and I got used to being a bit warmer than I like. That is the sad truth.
Lester Lugnut
New member
Who know? - maybe some of the 4Rs have this problem:
Lack of A/C Performance at Idle in High Ambient Temperature T-SB-0034-18 | Tacoma World
Lack of A/C Performance at Idle in High Ambient Temperature T-SB-0034-18 | Tacoma World
bluecollarjock
New member
Documented it with Toyota USA. They have in their notes the dealer had my A/C at 44 last time I complained and that’s within specs. Didn’t say it was recharged or not. Whether the service guy was trying to be nice or what, he said they recharged it and admitted to me that whatever they got it at it wasn’t that cold.
will try that procedure of cranking it on max and full power and going from the positions you indicated.
Toyota said some case manager will call me tomorrow. I said I’m not trying to stir issues just would be great if it could be fixed before warranty runs out. My next service (30k) is in a few weeks. I think they do change the cabin filter at 30k. So maybe that will help too. And if not seems if it’s in spec I’ll have to learn to live with it like others and consider tint. For sure back seat passengers don’t get cooled off and you can crank it all day and the front seat passengers won’t need to turn it down. I’m in LA and can get hot , and occasionally when I’m driving on road trips through more desert type areas to the east it really doesn’t seem sufficient.
will try that procedure of cranking it on max and full power and going from the positions you indicated.
Toyota said some case manager will call me tomorrow. I said I’m not trying to stir issues just would be great if it could be fixed before warranty runs out. My next service (30k) is in a few weeks. I think they do change the cabin filter at 30k. So maybe that will help too. And if not seems if it’s in spec I’ll have to learn to live with it like others and consider tint. For sure back seat passengers don’t get cooled off and you can crank it all day and the front seat passengers won’t need to turn it down. I’m in LA and can get hot , and occasionally when I’m driving on road trips through more desert type areas to the east it really doesn’t seem sufficient.
