Air con only working on passenger side.

[Mereside]

Hoping for some info that may help prior to going to France in July.

My car is a 2011 Auris Hybrid T-Sprit owned from new with 86k miles.

The problem I have is as described above. The air con works fine on the passenger side vents but although the drivers side vents blow air out it is not cooled by the air con.

In effect the drivers side air does not get cooled by the air con. I have tried recirculating the air in the car and also having air coming from outside. I have also tried all the various options for blowing air out of various vents to screen, face, feet etc to no effect.

My dealer is very good and has been for years so I have no criticism there. A neighbour who has now retired used to service the car at the dealer and both he and the dealer suggest it is a flap within the dashboard which is not opening. To resolve this would require much expense in work hours to identify the issue and a £5 part to fix it.

So my question is, has anyone had this issue and if they have can it be fixed without removing the dashboard at great expense. I realise this is a long shot but fingers crossed.

many thanks in anticipation.

Mereside

[xrhstosgr]

Good Evening I had the same problem with the cup holder on the left side which in my model is just below the ventilation and I removed the whole dashboard

[furtula]

Taking the dash out is around 1.5 hour job, when working slowly, here's the accessibility when removed.

You can check this topic here, which involves taking the dash out, details described + manual from Toyota where the clips are.

There's a handy youtube video to show you how to take pillar covers without destroying the plastic clips. 

When i did it, i also had no experience, but was straightforward job.

You can also try taking out the glove compartment out, to see if you can do something from there, or taking the radio out, but most probably dash needs to be removed.

 

 

[Mereside]

Thank you both for the replies. I will have a look at the video and see if I am up to the task.

Kind regards

[Mooly]

Just hazy thinking on this...

If the air con is low on refrigerant charge it can cause the evaporator to only cool for part of its surface area and that can cause symptoms such as cold air on only one or other side of the dash. 

 

[Mereside]

Thank you for the idea. I have had the aircon recharged twice with same result (at main dealer) but didn't cure the issue unfortunately.

I am back to a flap somewhere in the middle of the dashboard not opening unfortunately. Having watched how to remove the dashboard I will give that a miss as I will no doubt break a clip/panel etc so not risking it.

Mereside

[Mooly]

Argh, that's a pity. 

Even if you remove the dash I think you still have your work cut out to open up the heater box. How accessible all that is I have no idea.

Does this model have the dual zone air con where you can set L and R sides of the cabin to different temperatures? I'm just wondering, and this is really just to eliminate anything, whether disconnecting the 12 volt Battery for a few minutes would/could reset anything control wise that might be in some sort of electronic lock up.

Its a real long shot but stranger things have happened. I think that would only be worth trying if it does have dual zone A/C though as otherwise it will have just one flap for both sides.  

[Mereside]

Thank you for the idea. I have had the aircon recharged twice with same result (at main dealer) but didn't cure the issue unfortunately.

I am back to a flap somewhere in the middle of the dashboard not opening unfortunately. Having watched how to remove the dashboard I will give that a miss as I will no doubt break a clip/panel etc so not risking it.

 

The climate control is not dual control unfortunately so no idea why one side doesn't cool but does blow air out of the vents.

Mereside

[Stivino]

Does it not have self diagnosing like the Avensis?

[Mooly]

Is there any service information (like exploded diagrams) showing the heater box and the flap layout that might give some clue as to possible fault scenarios.

Even if info is available and even if you could get basic access around the heater box I still think unfortunately you are only a small part of the way to a fix. One big problem is that I think the evaporator will be a major stumbling block to access in that the system would need discharging and the pipe work disconnecting.

How about an endoscopic camera (as in a USB type one for a smartphone) pushed down the vent ducting to see what's going on.

 

 

  

[Mereside]

Thank you both. 

Nothing I can find on line for Auris self diagnosis and I have tried to find exploded diagram to show route of air con feed (even checked Haynes Manual) but no joy.

Might have to live with this as it will be too expensive to investigate thoroughly.

Mereside

[Stivino]

What about the other air, hot and cold, do they come out as they should?

[Mooly]

I agree that its probably not economic as a repair given the time and labour costs involved. A problem isn't it? and no easy answer I'm afraid.

Has it been like this a long time? and did it suddenly seem to fail? 

Absolutely clutching at straws here but can you see anything if you take the glovebox out? Could anything have come out of the glovebox and fallen down behind and be jamming anything (if there is even anything that moves externally that is jammable). Its a Toyota and they don't generally have weird issues like this and at least not where its something serious amiss. It would be odd if yours is the only one ever to have an issue like this.

 

 

  

[Mereside]

Hi both,

the hot air and blower works both sides and everything if fine with the climate control, the only issue is the air is not chilled at the drivers side.

I have taken the glove box out and had a poke around but nothing obvious. Its a strange one but will just have to shut the drivers vents in hot temperatures and just use the passenger side to cool the car.

 

[Stivino]

And, are you getting cold, unchilled air at the driver’s side?

[Mereside]

Yes, everything works as it should except no air con on drivers side. Strange.

[Stivino]

17 minutes ago, Mereside said:

Yes, everything works as it should except no air con on drivers side. Strange.

In that case the flaps must be working.

Try using a thermometer to compare the temps at the different vents.

[Mooly]

14 hours ago, Mereside said:

Yes, everything works as it should except no air con on drivers side. Strange.

Strange indeed. It looks like the 'easy' possibilities have been exhausted now. I can't see how a 'non dual' system can do this unless in order to save costs the same heater box is used in both and flaps/motors run together. A single system heater box I would think would have just one flap and one outlet to the vents.

Did you try resetting the system (12 volt Battery disconnect)? 

 

 

   

[Mereside]

Hi both,

The dealer checked the temperature on both sides and agreed no air con output from drivers side. when it warms up a bit (4 deg at moment) I will check it with thermometer.

I will disconnect Battery and give that a go.

 

 

[Red_Corolla]

Some cars have thermistors in the vents so that the actual temperature is fed back to the control unit. These can fail and cause uneven distribution, but I don't know about Toyotas specifically and I would imagine they're not used unless the car is dual zone. Just another idea to consider, even though it's probably not valid here.

[Mooly]

Another thought looking at this from a different angle. We know that a low refrigerant charge can cause unequal cooling across the evaporator and that is often a reason for this problem. It is not an uncommon issue.

You've had the refrigerant checked and recharged and it has made no difference but how about if there is a problem with the metering of the refrigerant into the evaporator (expansion valve or orifice tube, whatever method is used on these). Could something like that possibly give the same symptom as low charge? That kind of fault I think would show with proper interpretation of manifold gauges connected to the system ports.

 

[Mereside]

Hi all,

I disconnected the 12v Battery in the boot for a few minutes then reconnected. Put the air con on, with engine warm as I had just been out, and checked the vent motors all moved to change the air flow by using mode button. I heard all the motors buzz then the air flow changed to where I wanted it to go (top, middle, bottom etc). I then put air con on Lo and checked the temperature for the middle vents (laser temperature sensor) The car cooled down as did the vents but the passenger side was 3 deg lower than the drivers side. I switched to de-mist mode, so just the screen vents, and same thing there. I then did the footwell vents and same again.

 

To go any further will no doubt be expensive as I am not competent to try anything more technical so have resigned to live with it and when it get hot outside (hopefully in summer) ask 'er indoors to drive.

So thank you everyone for your assistance and I will now leave you in peace.

Kind regards

Mereside

[Mooly]

Hmmm. Its going to be more meaningful measurement wise in warmer weather I suspect. If its 25C outside ambient temperature then the flow from the vents should be (guessing) around 8C. On a day like today its only going to be about that outside I would think. It is here anyway. 

So if you have 8C coming from one side and if it were 25C from the other on a hot day then you have a problem. If the numbers were more like 8 and 11 then its all a bit more up in the air.

I'm assuming the flow from either vent can be altered  with the manual flaps at the outlet. Even a difference in air flow quantity between left and right might make a difference of a few degrees depending on the path of the ducting. As you say, paying for investigation would be very expensive and you really do have to weigh up whether its worth it.

Good luck anyhow and if there are any more developments then keep us all in the loop 🙂  

[TonyHSD]

Air con check and regas when weathers turns warmer is the next step imo. as Mooly mentioned low refrigerant level can cause uneven cold air flow, if you are getting cold air at middle vents but very mild on ten sides likely to be that. 👍

[Mereside]

Hi Both,

Thank you for getting back and I will have a re-gass before I go to France in July and see how that goes.

👍