New 04 T4R - one minor question

bluewolf

bluewolf

New member
Greetings forum! I'm a new guy. We just dumped a problematic Jeep Grand Cherokee and bought a new 4Runner:

'04 SR5 V8 4X4 / Dorado Gold Pearl / moonroof / 17" rims / alarm / other minor options.

"THRILLED" would be an UNDERSTATEMENT as to how we feel about this vehicle. Unfortunately, it's my wife's daily driver, so I only get to play with it on the weekends. :(

I have one NAGGING question about the T4R climate controlls:

The "re-circulate air" button will sometimes be on automaticly when we start up the vehicle. This seems to happen inconsistantly, but almost always when the air inside the cab is hot. It does not matter what settings are "on", such as "AC", "AUTO", the fan, etc. In certain circumstances, if we click the button to "off" (for fresh air) and the shut down and re-start the engine the button will be back in the "on" possition. We assume this is functioning normally, but it would be nice to know when and why it should be doing this automaticly.

Did I mention . . . I love this truck! I'm fairly experienced in the arts of recreational off-roading. I've owned Jeeps & Toyotas primarily, but this vehicle keeps impressing me more and more!
 
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Welcome

to the board, bluewolf! You're about to learn a whole lot on your new ride around here.

You will be in good company w/ your ex-jeep status, including me.
I had a 11 year run in grands, preceeded by a coupla cherokees.

Anyway, I feel the exact same way you do about the transition, quality & pleasure of 4R.

Your ?: the 'think for itself recirculate feature' is quite widely cussed & discussed here. Bottom line? damifino. Everybody has different feedback - it's confusing - I don't try to figger it out, I just turn it off when I see it's on, unless I'm near/in a tunnel.
If you searchword 'recirculate', or 'auto climate,' you're sure to find enough to bore you!

Again, welcome. The board is growing.
 
Thanks for the welcome EXTEX. I'll do a search, but I guess I probably wont find an answer. Even the lead tech at the Toyota dealership (who seems like a very intelligent guy, btw) doesn't know the answer as to "when & why".

On the Jeep subject, I've owned a 47 Ford (Willys), 72 CJ5 and my wife's 01 Grand. They are amazing 4x4s. But the old saying that Jeeps are built, not bought is VERY true. Toyotas, IMHO, are equally as graceful (if not more so) for 4x4 prowess, but much more reliable "out-of-the-box". I currently drive a 93 Toyota PU with 150,000 hard miles and LOTS of off-roading which has demanded nothing more from me but gas and oil.

We will undoubtedly keep the 4R for many years. I HATE buying new vehicles.
 
V1

Scott - couldn't get any, it is too well concealed! :jester:

It sits atop my rearview, driver's side, on velcro. It's not too visible there, but when you adjust the visors, and their pullout shades, it gets really hidden. Sunglasses holder will help if cop parks close.

I have the remote readout - which keeps its red lites on the main unit from illuminating - sitting in front of the speedo. Wires are easy to route & hide. I powered @ the kickpanel fusebox.

Concealment is important, as I live in the only state which defies the United states Supreme Court, and holds detectors illegal.
Did Virginia not learn anything in that last little States' Rights squabble, you know, where 600,00 Americans killed each other?
 
on the auto recirc, i have notice that if you drop the temp down to LO it will turn on the re-circ. otherwise i stay away from the auto feature.
 
Welcome aboard Bluewolf. I just like you got a 4runner after dumping the Heep Grande Cherokee, mine was a 2000 Limited. You will enjoy your 4runner a lot more than the Jeep.
 
I believe it provides super cooled air (max air on old manual controller air-conditioners). Once the air temperature drops to a set temperature, the light will go out (thus bring in outside air), and fan speed will continue to reduce as the inside air matches the temperature setting. This is a theory, but seems to be plausible given our record setting weekend temperatures.

Of course, if you use non-auto settings, you are in complete control!:)
 
leftyrb,

I agree, one would think that in the "auto-off" selection you would be in complete control, but not so in our vehicle. The recirculate button will come on (illuminate) on its own regardless of the auto-on or auto-off air settings. Weird.

Nobody yet at Toyota has been able to explain why.
 
Of course, if you use non-auto settings, you are in complete control!
Click to expand...
No, I have stopped using the "auto" setting and as bluewolf has noticed the "recirculate" setting still comes on at times when the truck is started. And, as someone else has said, I have given up trying to figure out what conditions cause this and just check the setting each time I start the truck.
 
still trying to figure out why LO will turn on re-circ and just one click up to 65 will turn it off. dont see how 1 setting makes a difference in auto settings. bleh, auto systems will never get it right, since everyone has a different opinion about what climate they want in there vehicle.
 
In my observation, I found that re-cir will gets triggered based on outside and inside temperature. For example, if outside temperature is 85F and we set inside temperature to say 70F, most probably, vehicle will try to recirculate the cabin air first to achieve 70F, which means less stress on the vehicle. Suppose if I increase the inside temperature setting to say 73, it may try to get fresh air because the variance is less here. I am not sure exactly how this variance is set. I observed the same behavior in my Lexus ES300 too.
 
Re: V1

EXTEX said:
Scott - couldn't get any, it is too well concealed! :jester:

It sits atop my rearview, driver's side, on velcro. It's not too visible there, but when you adjust the visors, and their pullout shades, it gets really hidden. Sunglasses holder will help if cop parks close.

I have the remote readout - which keeps its red lites on the main unit from illuminating - sitting in front of the speedo. Wires are easy to route & hide. I powered @ the kickpanel fusebox.

Concealment is important, as I live in the only state which defies the United states Supreme Court, and holds detectors illegal.
Did Virginia not learn anything in that last little States' Rights squabble, you know, where 600,00 Americans killed each other?
Click to expand...


are radar detector illegal in your parts of the country, or is it a jammer???
 
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