Dash Removal/heater Box

[Drpepper99uk]

Hi,

Having found out that my Prius heater box unit is not working properly and being quoted £1700 from my local Toyota dealer to supply and replace my non working unit, i'm thinking about maybe doing either the job myself to save on costs or using an independant garage to help.

Does all of the dash have to be removed in order for the heater box to be replaced, and what about the air con system, does this need to be depressurized etc? Is there anything else I can look at prior to attempting the above work like the control flap etc?

Mike.

[MEP's Yaris GS]

From experience of having to do this job myself on a 2004 Fiat Panda with climate control, it was a 13 hour job (probably only a few hours quicker by main dealer, as I knew what I was doing, but was doing it for a mate so stopped and had a good natter every now and then).

AC will need to be depressurised like you say, and the entire dash along with dash supporting frame will need to come out, and depending upon how the frame is secured, both front doors may also have to be removed!!

Its doable, but only by a very competent DIYer!

[drives]

From what I remember from your previous post the air is coming out lukewarm? I'm certainly no expert with the Prius but I'm guessing it has a standard heater matrix connected up to the coolant and then a fan unit which pushes the hot air through the vents. I think the problem with Toyota, and most main dealers, is their default position will always be to replace everything it could possibly be in the hope that it works, regardless of cost to the customer.

There's some interesting stuff on the American forum relating to the gen 2s and issues with the blower motor, potentially accessible through the glove box. Might be worth a look. I am no mechanic by any means but when the matrix itself goes it means that typically you get leaking coolant in the footwell and steaming vents. I don't really get why no hot air coming through without these other symptoms would mean the matrix itself is kaput.

I remember a few years ago (before I started doing repairs on my own cars) that a garage charged me around £400 to take the dash out and replace the matrix in a FTO. Fair play for at least looking to diy, but if this isn't an option I'd certainly be looking at a good independent before parting with £1700. Fair enough there are some bits of the Prius which are more specialist but I cant imagine the heater matrix is any different to anything else.

[Drpepper99uk]

Hi everyone,

Mine is a Gen 3, not sure of that has any bearing on costs and time. Looking more into it, I might have to settle for taking to either Toyota or another independant garage which specializes in heating repairs etc due to the amount of work involved. I think the issue is with the heater box unit and not the matrix itself as there is no tell-tale water or damp patches on the carpet as you'd usually associate with matrix failure.

The only good aspect is that the car was not long purchased from a garage, although should they choose to "repair" it, I hasten to add they might make things worse as I think they would be biting off more than they can chew as they are only a small garage and I very much doubt they have the know how and tool to do the job without either fixing it, and not buggering up something else in the process which I fear might happen. I spoke futher to the Toyota tech who looked at the car initially and he said it was for sure an internal flap inside the heater box which had failed causing my issue, it's a shame I can't manually operate it to control heat and cooling for the time being as it's only going to get colder as the time goes on.

Will keep everyone updated on the situation...

Have a good Xmas and New Year everyone :-)

[drives]

Ah right, not quite sure what is meant by the heater box as such. That said, I'm really not sure that something like this is beyond the scope of a decent mechanic surely. I'm not even sure you get heating repair specialists?? I'd definitely be investigating this further before spending so much of hard earned cash at Toyota