EDIT: Before you read this thread, I thought I'd save you some time and say that I have fixed the problem. I learned that someone riding in my backseat turned my rear heat on and left it on w/o my knowledge...thus causing the AC fan to run even though the AC off.



OKay, first off let me say I'm driving an '02 Sport 4Runner. This problem just started this afternoon.

I usually do not run my AC on the highest setting, but being that it was over a 100 degrees today, I actually ran my AC on HIGH for maybe 2-3 mins to speed up the cool down process. I turned it down to Medium-Low once it cooled off a bit.

Okay, so when I got home from work, I pulled in the driveway and left the truck running for a minute. I noticed the AC sounded louder than normal, so I turned the AC from Medium-Low to OFF. Air quit coming out of the vents, but I could still hear the fan running. I turned the AC back ON and turned the dial to each of the different settings to test each one. Air blows out of the vents as it should. Turned the AC back OFF and the fan continued to run. When the AC is ON, the air coming out of the vents remains cool and still blows slow or fast depending on the dial setting...it's just that w/ the AC OFF, the blower fan continues running. (FYI, the fan shuts off when I turn the truck off.)

Now that I think about it, the fan does not change speed either depending on the setting of the AC. (Don't know if it should change speed or not, but it sounds like it remains at one speed setting.)

Granted as hot as it has been lately, I plan on running my AC anytime I'm in my truck, but it would be nice if the fan would turn off when told to.

Anybody got any ideas how I can fix this? I don't want to take it to the dealer if it's something I can fix myself. Kind of hoping it was something easy to fix. Seems like a linkage or something could be either broke or off the track thus keeping the fan from turning off when I turn the AC off.

 

Did you have anyone riding in the back of your Runner at all? I had a similar experience the other weekend, and it turned out my buddy had turned the A/C control for the back seat on (controls located on the back of the middle console). For 20 minutes I sat there and trying to figure out why I couldn't turn off my damn A/C.

 

haha yea same thing happened to me

 

Matter of fact I did have 2 guys riding in my back seat when we went out for lunch today! Let me go run check and see if they fooled around with that switch....

 

Dangit!! You gotta be kidding me . On of those 2 morons in the back seat had turned ON that switch.

Turned it off and problem solved!! And here I thought I knew everything about a 3rd gen...geez.

Well at least I'm not the only guy this has happened to...Imagine the dealer's face if I had taken it up to them

Thanks again Yotatech for pointing out my stupidity.

 

FYI your truck has a mechanical fan that is spun by the engine. No electrical fans at all. So with the truck shut off, there is no fan that comes on (except the rear seat fan)

I wish that switch had some sort of lockout. My newphew loves to turn it on. He had it turned on one day and I diddnt know it, I started getting really hot and i couldnt figure out why. Kind of scared me since it was a cool day, had the windows down and no front heat was on.

 

This is very valuable info, had no idea!