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A/C system isn't working.

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Old 01-26-2004, 02:16 AM
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Unhappy A/C system isn't working.

1999 Toyota 4Runner Ltd., 3.4 5VZ-FE, 4WD, AUTO, 3rd generation.
A/C system with climate control doesn't work properly. In fact, it has only two positions: when temperature is set to "COOL" A/C system blows cool air; when temperature is set to any other position (18; 18.5; 19... etc.) A/C system blows hot air (it seems to me the most hot air available). What is wrong? Could you help me, please?
Old 01-26-2004, 02:43 AM
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You may have a stuck duct gate.
I think you will need to pull off the center bezel and get your hands dirty.
Take a look at all the connections and watch for correct operation.
You should see something rigth away if anything.

Does the AC turn on?
Does the compressor come on up front (engine bay)?
Is the air cool or cold?
Old 01-26-2004, 04:19 AM
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Dear MTL_4Runner!
Thank you very much for your promt response. I've got my 4Runner in May 2003 from Canada and it's so nice to me that I've got advice from a Canadian owner. Since May 2003 my 4Runner's AC system was recharged two times, thou it wasn't necessary ($100x2). It was done according to the attempt of our technicians to find the solution. In fact, I thihk they don't have enough experience as there are only few 3rd gen 4Runners here (I live in Moscow). I was told about "one great electrician on Toyota's cars", but I can't get in touch with him. So I decided to fix this problem myself. I've orded some books on 3rd gen 4Runners from Amazon.com and they may come only in the first half of February.
To answer your questions: the AC system is turned on; it blows cold air (so cold that in 10-15 min you may be ill); it blows very hot air (when temperature is set to 18 or more). It seeme to me that the "hotness" of air is not depending on the position of the temperature set. It seems to me that AC system can't mix the cold and hot air in the right proportion (can it mix it at all?) and it isn't possible to get desired temperature in the saloon of the car.
Sorry for my English.
With best regards,
Alexander.
Old 01-26-2004, 04:44 AM
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Hehehehe......only place colder than Moscow right now is Quebec.
So no surprise the AC is blowing cold air.

Ok so at fully hot then the system gives you hot air but otherwise no?
Do you have an electronic climate control (ie digital) or just knobs?

Like this?


or like this?


I know the controls on the 99+ runners are different than earlier years that had all mechanical cables and sliders to activate the gates in the ducts. Tell me which one and we can work from there.
Old 01-26-2004, 05:19 AM
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It's a great day for me, thank you Jamie!
According to your remark: my AC system works the same manner permanently (in summer, autumn and winter). And the technicians (mentioned above) said that "something is wrong" but in winter it would be comfortable. Winter comes and the situation becomes only worse: we (I and my passengers) need to take upper clothes off because it is so hot in the car. Nevertheless from time to time we need to cool the saloon (it's only possible when temp is set to "COOL") and then it becomes very cold.
My AC system (with knobs?) is like on the upper picture (with wood).
I'm trying to explain my thoughts more clearly, but it's not so successful.
I'm ready to give more details with some delay needed to find and check many words in the dictionary.
Old 01-26-2004, 05:27 AM
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Jamie, just to clarify. The AC system gives me hot (very hot) air in any position (18, 18.5, 19... HOT) exept for "COOL" (when it gives me very cold air).
Old 01-26-2004, 05:59 AM
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Originally posted by 99ru4runner
Jamie, just to clarify. The AC system gives me hot (very hot) air in any position (18, 18.5, 19... HOT) exept for "COOL" (when it gives me very cold air).
Ok you have given me some good hints here.
Glad you clarified the above, I thought it was the reverse situation.

You are telling me that your limited has a digital temp control not a simple mechanical version. To answer your question, yes, the climate control does not function any differently at any time during the year. It varies due to the difference in temperature, but nothing else. Usually the way a climate control works is to use a thermostat to check the cabin temperature and then add hot or cold air until the thermostat measuring the cabin temp matches what you have set on the knobs. This is obviously not happening for you. So there are several things possibly wrong with the system.

1) stuck gate as mentioned
2) check for any blown fuses
3) malfunctioning control servo motor (I assume they are servo driven )
4) malfunctioning climate control unit (could be serious $$$)
5) loose connection/worn or damaged wire to any of the parts

I don't have a wiring diagram in front of me nor any pics of the dash torn appart so it is tough for me to get any further than that without you posting pics or someone pointing me to wher I can see some.

I am not sure if you have the sills to fix it yourself or if you are going to take it to someone else over there to fix. I am sure parts will be a serious pain to get but if you still have friends (esp in the US) that can buy stuff from a junkyard or off ebay you will save huge $$$$ on fixing it.

Last edited by MTL_4runner; 01-26-2004 at 06:01 AM.
Old 01-26-2004, 11:25 PM
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Jamie, thank you very much for your help!
Your attention to my problem is the most precious gift I ever hoped to get. According to your conclusions my plan will possibly be as follows:
1) to get books from Amazon.com (I hope before the middle of February);
2) with the help of the books explore all your suggested reasons of the improper work of my AC system; take pics of the parts and connections of the AC system and send them to you for advice;
3) try to find the wrong element; I am not sure that I can fix it myself but I need to know the reason;
4) then I need to decide: if it's possible to fix it for a reasonable sum of money - OK, it's better to repair; if repair takes a large sum of $$$ - may be I need to try a different way. In fact, climate control is a good thihg but not the most necessary one. May be it's possible to break with climate control: what I really needed is to establish the function between the position of the temp control knob and the real temp in the cabin. At the moment this function is absent. According to what I told you earlier "my practice of establishing" this function is by hand (by varying the time between the COOL and other positions of the control knob).
So, I'll try.
By the way, is it true that the regime of defrosting of the back window in 4Runners is not so effective compared to other types of cars? My personal observation is that in my 4Runner the time needed to melt ice on the back windshield is much longer then in Skoda Octavia (my first car). Is it true or may be something is wrong with my 4Runner?
Sorry, I can't find in the dictionary "junkyard" and "off ebay"?
Old 01-27-2004, 05:42 AM
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Originally posted by 99ru4runner
Jamie, thank you very much for your help!
Your attention to my problem is the most precious gift I ever hoped to get. According to your conclusions my plan will possibly be as follows:
1) to get books from Amazon.com (I hope before the middle of February);
2) with the help of the books explore all your suggested reasons of the improper work of my AC system; take pics of the parts and connections of the AC system and send them to you for advice;
3) try to find the wrong element; I am not sure that I can fix it myself but I need to know the reason;
4) then I need to decide: if it's possible to fix it for a reasonable sum of money - OK, it's better to repair; if repair takes a large sum of $$$ - may be I need to try a different way. In fact, climate control is a good thihg but not the most necessary one. May be it's possible to break with climate control: what I really needed is to establish the function between the position of the temp control knob and the real temp in the cabin. At the moment this function is absent. According to what I told you earlier "my practice of establishing" this function is by hand (by varying the time between the COOL and other positions of the control knob).
So, I'll try.
By the way, is it true that the regime of defrosting of the back window in 4Runners is not so effective compared to other types of cars? My personal observation is that in my 4Runner the time needed to melt ice on the back windshield is much longer then in Skoda Octavia (my first car). Is it true or may be something is wrong with my 4Runner?
Sorry, I can't find in the dictionary "junkyard" and "off ebay"?
What is your native language? I may be able to speak that instead.

I am not surprised junkyard and ebay were not in the dictionary.
eBay is an online marketplace: www.ebay.com (they sell EVERYTHING there including 4runner parts)
Junkyard is a place to go and buy parts from old/damaged cars/trucks at much lower prices.

Here is the Haynes manual you need:
http://store.yahoo.com/motobooks/toytac4runt1.html

I am afraid I had one but I lost it and have yet to get another so I can't look up your system and my truck as I mentioned uses all mechanical controls (ie no electronic controls for the hot/cold air mixing). This is where I have a feeling yours may be different. I honestly have no idea and would need to see either a picture of the system in your truck after you disassemble it or a scan of the pages in the manual and a scan of the wiring diagram for your year truck.
Old 01-27-2004, 06:29 AM
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Hello! It's an interesting suggestion. I am Russian, but can also speak Ukrainian language. The book you've mentioned I've already ordered ($13.97). And also I've ordered Chilton's Toyota Pick-Ups/Land Cruiser/4 Runner 1997-00 Repair Manual for $16.77 (don't know what book will be better). But I like books: sometimes just reading the same topic in different books can greatly clarify the situatian.
May be to some extent I am dummy in these questions, frankly speaking I don't feel free as this is my first forum, but I hope that time and my desire improve the situation.
I appreciate your help very much. Good luck!
Old 01-27-2004, 06:49 AM
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i think you speak english quite well
Old 01-27-2004, 08:13 AM
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Originally posted by 99ru4runner
Hello! It's an interesting suggestion. I am Russian, but can also speak Ukrainian language. The book you've mentioned I've already ordered ($13.97). And also I've ordered Chilton's Toyota Pick-Ups/Land Cruiser/4 Runner 1997-00 Repair Manual for $16.77 (don't know what book will be better). But I like books: sometimes just reading the same topic in different books can greatly clarify the situatian.
May be to some extent I am dummy in these questions, frankly speaking I don't feel free as this is my first forum, but I hope that time and my desire improve the situation.
I appreciate your help very much. Good luck!
Privet Zemlyak!
I used to live there back in 1991, but i haven't had a chance to go back, hopefully I can make it there this summer.
I am afraid that the books you've order will not help you with the problem, because they don't have a diagnostic routine. I have a full Toyota shop manual and I can scan some mages for you. I just need few days since I just came back from skiing. Anyway, let me know if you need that. I also had some problem with a servo motor (moves the gate) mine got stock at cold position. First time it happened I removed a servomotor, opened and there was a plastic gear (shesterenka) some of the teeth were worn. I was able to rotate it 180 degrees and it worked fine for a year, after that it broke again. I had to buy a new part $100 and so far it's been working fine. There actually 3 servo motors doing different things. I hope this helps.
Old 01-27-2004, 08:44 AM
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Originally posted by Bratik
Privet Zemlyak!
I used to live there back in 1991, but i haven't had a chance to go back, hopefully I can make it there this summer.
I am afraid that the books you've order will not help you with the problem, because they don't have a diagnostic routine. I have a full Toyota shop manual and I can scan some mages for you. I just need few days since I just came back from skiing. Anyway, let me know if you need that. I also had some problem with a servo motor (moves the gate) mine got stock at cold position. First time it happened I removed a servomotor, opened and there was a plastic gear (shesterenka) some of the teeth were worn. I was able to rotate it 180 degrees and it worked fine for a year, after that it broke again. I had to buy a new part $100 and so far it's been working fine. There actually 3 servo motors doing different things. I hope this helps.
I hope I didn't make it sound like you didn't speak well because you do!

I think Bratik is probably right on the money. I have not seen the exact system, but they all pretty much work the same, so I am glad my servo guess may be correct. Worst case you should be able to replace a servo motor pretty inexpensively compared to other parts so that would be great news if that is indeed the problem. If there are 3 servo motors then they just do the same function as the mechanical version with the knobs (ie 1 for hot/cold, 1 for inside/outside air, and 1 for which vents are blowing air). Should be very straightforward, but post again if you still have any trouble and we'll do our best.

Last edited by MTL_4runner; 01-27-2004 at 08:48 AM.
Old 01-28-2004, 02:55 AM
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Hello everybody!
As I've mentioned above it's my first participation in the forum and bear in mind that I'm to "some extent" much older than Bratik (I'm nearly 50) I'm very impressed by the readiness and willingness of the people to help. Thank you very much.
By the way, what is the proper manner of addressing a person (I mean to be polite)?
Bratik, I'm very glad to meet you here. It'a a strange thing: some weeks ago I've looked through your site (as my 4Runned LTD is vere similar to yours (and your wife's - Bratik understands me) and I also made some improvements) and today I've learned thay you lived in Moscow.
Bratik and MTL_4Runner, you are right. I've bought Haynes Repair Manual (translated into Russian) that covers Tacoma, 4Runner and T100 up to 1998 in the bookshop called "Za rulem" (which is supposed to be the most famous bookshop on auto literature in Moscow). The consultants in the bookshop said that manuals on the 3rd generation will not be translated into Russian as 3rd gen wasn't sold in Europe (is it true?) and there are very few 3rd gen 4Runners in Russia.
Back to the manual. My reading of it comfirms Bratik's and MTL_4Runner's thoughts according to my ability to mend the problem myself:
1) the manual doesn't contain enough information to make complicated things oneself;
2) the quality of the pics in the manual is so bad - it's impossible to figure out neccessary details;
3) explanation of the material (at least in Russian translation) is not "for ordinary mind".
But I'll try .
Of course, I'm not willing to confirm my previos practice when I've tried to improve something but in the end it finishes with full break
So, my method should be:
1) step by step;
2) bear in mind that (as we often say) "the better is the enemy of the good".
Bratik, would you be so kind to send me some pages from Toyota shop manual that you've mentioned above? Thank you in advance.
I have a feeling that MTL_4Runner's assumption #1 is true. The time will clarify the situation, but I'm really frightened to damage something (esp small plastic particles which are very difficult to find). Any hints?
Best wishes!!!
Old 01-28-2004, 06:35 AM
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Hey 99ru4runner,

Maybe the best way for us to help is if you can take some pics, post them and we can walk you through the fix. I know that Bob has taken his dash apart and done a writeup for it but I don't know of anyone who has done 99+ and posted it yet. Here is Bob's main site: http://4runners.org/ where he has a few pics of pulling the dash apart.

You can also look at the pics in my sig as well to see what mine looks like.

Last edited by MTL_4runner; 01-28-2004 at 07:37 AM.
Old 01-28-2004, 01:24 PM
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I knew I saw it somewhere and looked in my links and sure enough, there it was.
Here is exactly the steps to get it apart to fix:

http://www.carstereohelp.com/stereoremovalToy4Runr.htm
Old 01-28-2004, 09:25 PM
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Hello MTL_4Runner,
Thank you very much for your help, I appreciate it.
Frankly speaking, I've looked through my Haynes manual (Russian version as I've mentioned above) yesterday and found it difficult to take the dash apart according to the manual's instructions. It seems to me that sometimes these instructions are more strictly than we really need in practice. So your method to use pics seems to be the only one possible way. I'll try it in the near future when I have enough time.
Glad to hear you, good luck.
Old 01-29-2004, 02:48 AM
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I'm not sure about you but I need to see pics to really understand the system I am fixing.
Anyway, hope the link I provided will help you out.
Best of luck with it.
Old 01-29-2004, 03:00 AM
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I also need to see pics before I'm going to do something. The line you provided is very helpful, it's more informative that my manual. In addition this line gives some more ideas (for example, how to clear a fan).
Thank you.
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