Cheap Fix - Electronic Air Cond Controls

[pblank]

I have a 2000 LTD 4Runner with the 'electronic heater/air conditioner' control panel. It stopped working. According to the dealer, I needed a new unit ($1,100 Toyota list price) and two hours of labor (at $150/hour out here). I decided to take the unit out of the dash, disassemble it completely, blew it out, cleaned the connector between the two PCB's and reassembled. The entire operation took about one hour. When I re-installed it, it worked great. Don't know if anyone else has experienced this but you might want to try this since it is an easy and pretty inexpensive fix.

 

[kball]

That's sweet! I love it when the dealer is proved to be a stealer! You should have taken pics of the process and done a write up. :cheers:

 

[pblank]

I wasn't expecting it to work so I really didn't think to take pictures. I am NOT at all mechanically inclined but I had the service manual and this was easy to do. Remove the handbrake cover the panels on the center dash. They must be removed in the order shown. Undo three screws on the heater control and it comes right out. THere are two plugs in the back that must be released (they are squeeze type). Once inside, you can remove the back screws and open the case of the control. There are two PCB's connected with a cable. The connector lifts up and the cable slides out. You can undo the four screws on the front half, remove the round knobs and the PCB comes right out. I did this, blew out the entire device...made sure the sealed switches on the front of the PCB seemed ok and then reassembled. Once you re-attach the front PCB, make sure that the cable from the back PCB is carefully inserted and the connector is pushed down to lock it in place. Mine came out very easily and I wonder if that might not have been the source of the issue. After that, reassemble and reinstall in the car. At least in my case, it worked like a champ. Good luck and if you have any questions, let me know.

Phil

 

[4daRUNNER]

I'm sorry for the re****ed question but, what is a PCB?

 

[kball]

There's no such thing as a dumb question. There's just dumb people who make fun of people for asking questions they know the answer to.

PCB= printed circuit board

Think of like, a small motherboard. The electronics board on a hard drive is a pcb.

 

[archer27]

Hey great to see someone that has the same problem I have. Did yours make a clicking sound under the dash? My AC works ok, but it still makes a clicking noise. However no heat.

 

[cfranck1]

Hey great to see someone that has the same problem I have. Did yours make a clicking sound under the dash? My AC works ok, but it still makes a clicking noise. However no heat.

Sounds like a blend door and or the blend door actuator or rod that connects the 2 together. Most likely the actuator teeth are stripped and can't close the door to allow heat.