Anyone replaced their recirculation servo

H

horsey

New member
When the AC is on and the recirculation mode is on, I hear clicking noise coming under the glove box. Then I took the the glove box out and saw the servo that open and close the vent making the noise. Has anyone replace this part before? If so, do you need to take apart the blower unit? Any DIY?

Thanks!
 
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Thanks Therok! Do you know if you can just get by changing that servo without taking out the blower unit?
 
Well, I was just SURE there would be a DIY writeup on this:)

Symptoms:
-I've had a medicore cooling system(AC) for the last 2 summers. Hot days(100+) were severely more noticeable than 90 or less days. Air temp would go up when stopped(red light, drive thru, etc) Best temp I could get on hot day was low 60's at registers....moving.....Mid 70s while stopped.
-Full of refrigerant
-Gauge pressures for suction and discharge look right(compressor working).

Problem Found:
Found the servo that controls the inside vs outside air (recirculation damper) only actuates to the outside air position. If yours IS working you should hear a change in tone of the air as you switch from one to the other......I didn't. I confirmed by removing glove box and with control power on switching the damper from in to out. I could push the damper closed.....then use dash button to open but it would/will not close again on it's own.(FYI, recirculation light on controls was still working as normal.....just nothing happening)


How to get the old servo out and new one in?
HELP !!! I don't know. I've removed 3, 4, 5 screws/bolts from white plastic motor housing, it's moving a lil.......looks like it MUST shift to passenger side direction first and then down? Just can't make it happen! Am i missing something? Anyone ever done this? It looks to me like this is the only way to get to the servo motor.
HELP!!!
 
I got it......kinda.
I never got the white airbox assembly out tho.
And I didn't replace the servo.
I had to remove the ECM bracket(2 bolts on top, 1 on firewall) Push it to the side, you can leave all connections connected.
I removed the white plastic "bracket" that holds 2 cable junctions(disconnect cables push to side, pop off white plastic bracket(3 push on plastic barbs)

I could then see that the arm on my servo had somehow popped out of the track that it glides in to open and close the damper. By coming off the track it would still open the baffle(to outside air) but since not in track it would not close baffle(servo arm moved but it didn't move in track).
ANYWAY...I had to use one of those "L" shaped phillips screwdrivers to loosen the servo enough so I could push it back and get clearance for the servo arm to fall into the track. Hard to explain, when you get in there you will see tho.

This was on a 2005 by the way.

Air is now low 40's HUGE, 30 degree improvement!
 
I had this same issue, then i stuck my hand in there and messed around with it and it popped back into gear.

If that doesn't work then yeah... replace it. Looks like a lot of stuff to take out before getting to it.

I also saw somewhere that there are aftermarket / other manufacturers that the parts line up with the toyotas and are like 1/4 the price but i wasn't able to get the exact part. Maybe someone can chime in and help?
 
ok, was able to get the job done, took pics for other folks who might run into this issue.
[MENTION=66389]BlackWorksInc[/MENTION] , thanks...though didnt see ur post on time, and just checked now, no pics...is it me or something else?

i also made an error and turned the ingition on several times to observe how the actuator arm moves.........hope i hvnt damaged anything, didnt start the car after the ops, will do so 2moro and observe if the 4wd system is still functional...ouch!!


tried taking out/shifting the ecm...didnt budge...could locate the 3rd nut as OP said...looked further inside and found out that the ecm is secured by 2 more screws on top...implying that u gotta remove the dash to access those nuts...so left it all alone, just unclicpped the white plastic tab.

the green circle is 'track' part of the assy, while the red arrow is the pin part that jumped out of the tracks
 

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update: so started the truck today, zero issues...cycled the 4wd system...functioned ok. guess no harm was dne was turning on the ignition with the harness unplugged...maybe since i didnt start the car...or it only happens on 04 n lower models
 
Great thread. I discovered I had the same problem. I wonder how many people are driving around that unknowingly have this issue.
 
Do you guys know if this is the same part that needs to be replaced if my AC constantly blows out of the defroster vents on the front windshield? I get a decent about 75-80% out of the normal vents, but it drives me nuts that I'm losing some of the AC strength out of the defroster. Thanks in advance
 
Mrtorque29 said:
Do you guys know if this is the same part that needs to be replaced if my AC constantly blows out of the defroster vents on the front windshield? I get a decent about 75-80% out of the normal vents, but it drives me nuts that I'm losing some of the AC strength out of the defroster. Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

On my 2005 SR5 V6 (single zone) system there are 3 servos.

1. DAMPER FOR BLOWER SERVO (currently being discussed)
2. MODE SERVO
3. DAMPER SERVO (usually called mix servo by this crowd)

To answer your question directly, no. You are experiencing an issue with item 2 or 3 (or likely both). I strongly suspect 2 in your case. See:

EVAPORATOR & HEATER COMPONENTS for 2005 Toyota 4Runner

If you choose to fix this yourself do yourself a favor and clean up 2 and 3 at the same time regardless of findings. By cleanup I mean the disassembly and bending/polishing of the electrical finger contacts. Both mine were defective and now my system works perfect (I had the same symptoms as you). One of the screws on the mode servo is almost impossible to get to. My solution was to drill a hole in the side of the blower motor box (with recirculation door open) and get a screwdriver to it that way. Tape the hole up when done.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Before you disassemble the servos take a sharpie and mark the position of the white arm on the servo body so you can assemble it back in exactly the same position. You're screwed if you don't.
 
Nostromo said:
On my 2005 SR5 V6 (single zone) system there are 3 servos.

1. DAMPER FOR BLOWER SERVO (currently being discussed)
2. MODE SERVO
3. DAMPER SERVO (usually called mix servo by this crowd)

To answer your question directly, no. You are experiencing an issue with item 2 or 3 (or likely both). I strongly suspect 2 in your case. See:

EVAPORATOR & HEATER COMPONENTS for 2005 Toyota 4Runner

If you choose to fix this yourself do yourself a favor and clean up 2 and 3 at the same time regardless of findings. By cleanup I mean the disassembly and bending/polishing of the electrical finger contacts. Both mine were defective and now my system works perfect (I had the same symptoms as you). One of the screws on the mode servo is almost impossible to get to. My solution was to drill a hole in the side of the blower motor box (with recirculation door open) and get a screwdriver to it that way. Tape the hole up when done.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Before you disassemble the servos take a sharpie and mark the position of the white arm on the servo body so you can assemble it back in exactly the same position. You're screwed if you don't.
Click to expand...

Wow I did not expect 3 of these, thanks for your knowledge and info, how long would you estimate it would take to do this repair?
 
Mrtorque29 said:
Wow I did not expect 3 of these, thanks for your knowledge and info, how long would you estimate it would take to do this repair?
Click to expand...

It took me three hours and lots of skin. I'm old and dull-witted though. Now that I have it figured out maybe and hour. See this thread:

Grinding/clicking under dash - air mix servo - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

This gives you the general idea about the internal workings of the servo. Very common problem as you can see.

To be clear and consistent within this thread, you are suffering from a weak electrical finger contact issue, not a jumped track. Never heard of a jumped track on this side of the blower fan box.
 
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slyfox75 said:
I got it......kinda.
I never got the white airbox assembly out tho.
And I didn't replace the servo.
I had to remove the ECM bracket(2 bolts on top, 1 on firewall) Push it to the side, you can leave all connections connected.
I removed the white plastic "bracket" that holds 2 cable junctions(disconnect cables push to side, pop off white plastic bracket(3 push on plastic barbs)

I could then see that the arm on my servo had somehow popped out of the track that it glides in to open and close the damper. By coming off the track it would still open the baffle(to outside air) but since not in track it would not close baffle(servo arm moved but it didn't move in track).
ANYWAY...I had to use one of those "L" shaped phillips screwdrivers to loosen the servo enough so I could push it back and get clearance for the servo arm to fall into the track. Hard to explain, when you get in there you will see tho.

This was on a 2005 by the way.

Air is now low 40's HUGE, 30 degree improvement!
Click to expand...


so seems my problem has resurfaced again, did some snooping and discovered that the servo arm has jumped tracks again, this time am finding it super difficult to push the arm back, could you post a picture of the l shaped tool you used.
 

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earthrealm said:
so seems my problem has resurfaced again, did some snooping and discovered that the servo arm has jumped tracks again, this time am finding it super difficult to push the arm back, could you post a picture of the l shaped tool you used.
Click to expand...

Slyfox is refering to one of these right angle screwdrivers.....

Ace 0 in. L Assorted Offset Screwdriver 1 pc.(025OS2C) - Offset Screwdrivers - Ace Hardware

But I prefer one of these, I own several of both type but this one comes with many different bits and it ratchets so you don't have to keep repositioning it while loosening screws and this type works better in tight places where you can only turn the screw a little bit, with the other type if you can't turn a screw at least 1/4 turn it doesn't work to well.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-10-...MI2pOU-4LA2gIVxVYNCh3ccgypEAQYAyABEgLuGvD_BwE
 
My Servo is making noise's again. Last time was about 2 years ago but it went away. I just run up/down the temp cycle's and fan speed's with the inside/outside recirculation and it seems to fix the issue (temporally).
With 205K miles on the truck, it seems to be working so far.
 
Accidentally pried the recirculating servo "out of gear" or off it's tracks tonight while messing under the dash. Posting here so I can find it to research more tomorrow.

Sent from my HTC6545LVW using Tapatalk
 
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