IS IT THE CLIMATE CONTROL OR BLEND DOOR MOTOR?

Time after time, I will have customers call with the question about their 2001-2007 Toyota Highlander.  I replaced the climate control and it still doesn’t work.  What could the problem be?  We checked the blend door motor, but it isn’t getting any signal from the control head.  What is going on?

Here are a few suggestions.  A majority of the time if you have been having to wiggle the control knob on the climate control to get it to change from hot to cold or just stay on one, then it is very likely the climate control causing issues.  Eventually, it will fail altogether and will need to be repaired.  I have seen numerous items wedged into the control to keep the climate where the driver wants it to be.  That is a short-term fix.  However, if you haven’t been having to do this to your climate control and one day you start driving and cannot change the climate, it is very likely your blend door motor.  Both parts fail frequently.

One way to test this is to bypass the climate control.  Most mechanics can do this for you.  Simply put power directly to the blend door motor itself.  If you do this and it allows the door to move, then you know the blend door motor is good and the problem is in the climate control itself.  However, if you put power to the blend door motor and it does not move, then you know you have a faulty motor.  This part can be purchased at your local automotive parts store such as Auto Zone or O’Reilly the last time I checked.

Let’s go back to the climate control.  If you have tested the blend door motor and it is good, but still are having issues with your heat, vent control, AC, or fan speed, then the problem is very likely in the control.  The most common issue is for the middle knob on the manual control, which controls the air temperature, to fail.  It will then get stuck on just warm or cold air.  Secondly, if your control is stuck on heat, this will very likely not allow your AC to come on either.  Occasionally, the vent control knob will also become faulty and lose connections, causing you to be unable to change between the vent positions and control over where the air is distributed in the car : defrost vs. floor. vs face, etc.  Lastly, and this does not happen very often, the fan speed control knob can go bad.  This part actually just runs through the climate control, but is a part all to itself.  It can be replaced but not repaired.  If this ends up being your problem, then we do keep this part in stock as well.  Just remember to always check your blower motor resistor as well as this can also cause an issue with the fan speed control and might be the more likely cause of a problem.

Another issue:  I bought a refurbishment climate control, checked the blend door motor, and my compressor still will not engage.  What could be the problem?  Anytime we sell a climate control, we check the VIN  for the Highlander.  We do this for a reason.  There are a variety of interchanges.  If you install the incorrect interchange, even though it has been rebuilt, it will cause issues with the compressor not engaging on your vehicle.  Always make sure you are installing the same part number on the back and this will take care of that problem.  The face plates look the same, but the internal components are different.

I hope this sheds some light on the issue if you have been struggling with your vehicle.  Thanks for reading!

Purchase a repair service: https://autotechrescue.com/product/toyota-highlander-climate-control-repair/
Buy a refurbished control: https://autotechrescue.com/product/refurbished-01-07-toyota-highlander-manual-climate-control/

Toyota Highlander Climate Control Problems

I have to say I have always liked Toyota.  Growing up, my parents had a Toyota that they kept for years.  It looked good, it was comfortable, and it was reliable.  I have owned a few myself and enjoyed every one of them, including a Toyota Highlander.  We rebuild salvage title vehicles, so I switch it up pretty often.  It is fun to drive them for a little while, sell them, and build another.  Side note – if you are ever interested in doing this for yourself visit our sister company 43 Auto – www.43auto.com.  We would love to sell you a rebuilder.  Ok, that truly was a side note… moving on…

Although I feel that Toyota does an overall good job of producing a reliable, good vehicle, they are lacking on the climate control center for the year range of 2001-2007 for their Highlander model.  It doesn’t matter if it is the automatic controls, navigation, or the manual, they all seem to have trouble.

On the manual controls, we have had many customers complain that they can no longer adjust the temperature or perhaps the fan speed.  The knobs become loose and inoperable.  This can be extremely frustrating, especially if it has hit the dead of winter or summer.  And if you are like most of us, we wait until it is the 100 degree day in May (when it has been consistently 77 prior) to figure out that we need to have our heater and AC control fixed.  Oops!  I’ve been meaning to do that all spring….is usually what comes with it.  This is also a problem for the automatic climate controls.

Another issue that the automatic control carries is a total and sometimes spontaneous power loss.  It may flicker here and there, but eventually it will probably go out.

When this happens, you have a few options.  One, you can call the dealership and buy a new one for around $1000-$1200.  Yikes!  The second option would be to call your local salvage yard and purchase a used control.  However, you run the risk of buying another problem.  Maybe you should just fix the problem!  We offer an even better option.  Send us your faulty control.  We will repair it the same day it is received and ship it out the following day for a very affordable cost.  We also offer refurbished units that we keep on hand to sell in case you don’t have time to wait on a repair.   We offer a lifetime warranty and fast shipping.

Some would say you can do this repair yourself.  You may be able to.  There is a lot of information out there these days that will tell you how to do something.  But why spend your entire weekend trying to figure out how to take your climate control apart, fix it, and put it back together…ok so maybe a little longer than your weekend trying to teach yourself how to do something that you’ll probably only do once.  Seems silly to me.

I have a friend who says he went to school for a number of years and he no longer will do anything that is not required by his degree (when it comes to tasks like this).  Of course, he is being a little extreme.  And yes, he still mows his own yard on Saturdays, or he did until his children became old enough to take over this task.  However, his point is that he isn’t going to waste his free time (the little free time he has) trying to learn something or do something that he doesn’t have to do and that someone else could probably do better who is skilled at it.

This is why I recommend hiring someone like Auto Tech Rescue to do this for you.  We have done it enough times that we know what we are doing.  We have tools and necessary equipment to do it right.  We can get it done in one day for you so that you get it right back and it can be installed so you aren’t driving around in the 100 degree weather (or -4) without an air conditioner or heater.   We repair these so frequently and use materials that are much stronger than what was original with the unit.  This is how we can be confident in our repairs to put a lifetime warranty on the unit when all is said and done.

Spend your weekend with your family or simply relaxing.  Go to the beach.  Go to the lake.  Go for a walk.  Don’t pull your hair out looking for the right tools, staring at your computer, and then potentially messing up and ruining your controls.  Life goes by too fast to spend all of your free time messing with your car parts.  Leave this type of repair to the experts.

So, what was the point of this?  Simple.  Spend your free time doing the things YOU want to do.  Send your broken climate control to Auto Tech Rescue.  Keep your hair (don’t pull it out).  You lost your hair already?!  Well…go for a walk and send it to us anyway!

Thanks for reading!  Have a wonderful morning, day, or evening!  We hope to see you soon!

http://www.autotechrescue.com/product/toyota-highlander-climate-control-repair/

Lindsay

**Another side note – to remove your heater and AC control try using an old credit card and wedge it between the control panel trim and the dash to pop it loose.  Then go to the opposite corner and do the same thing.  Jiggle it gently so that you don’t break it, but it will come straight out by doing this if you are patient with it.  You will need to remove some bolts holding it in place after you remove the trim.  Now, it may be worth spending a moment on you tube viewing how to do this.  I’ll make sure to add a video soon for these instructions as well.

Another option would be to run by your local mechanic and have him take it out for you.  It doesn’t take long, so I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.