Air con

[davet30]

Hi,

New to the forum and my brother-in-law owns an Auris.  He has encountered an issue with regards to the aircon not blowing cold air on the passenger side but works on the drivers side?  Sounds to me it is a malfunction with an air valve??  

He took it to an aircon guy not realising that the aircon per say wasn't the issue.  He, the aircon guy, said its most likely an electrical issue and would entail having the dash board removing and will entail a high price.

I've done lots of car work, including dashboard removals, and so have offered to "have a look" for him.

Any ideas/experience anyone?  I've come directly onto her because A- have benefitted from such make orientated forums before and B - my wife has her heart set on a Yaris hybrid for her next car.  Thanks

Dave

[solero]

Doubt its anything to do with air valves. Likely low on refrigerant, so only 1 side of the evaporator matrix under the dash s getting cold. Best let an air con expert check it over.

[TonyHSD]

It couldn’t be low on gas or issues with the flaps. 
If the car hasn’t got any re gas in the last 4 year’s perhaps as suggested above start with system test and regas, then after you are certain that there is the correct amount of oil and gas if still only blow from one side , next step will be flaps actuators. 
But before all that you need to check hvac settings, if non hybrid these cars has dual zone , make sure been selected both sides to blow cold. 

[Red_Corolla]

If it's been for an aircon service then I would've thought the guy at least connected the gauges and checked the pressure in the system before citing a problem with the air distribution?

I remember watching a case study on one car (non-Toyota) that had a similar problem and the issue in that case was a faulty thermistor in the ducting behind the vent on one side. I understand this is how the car manages the correct temperature distribution on dual-zone systems. Might be worth looking into if this Auris also happens to be dual-zone.

[Willss]

My 2014 auris has exactly the same problem. Driver's side cools, passenger's side doesn't. Also at some points passenger's side can be heated but driver's side can't be. If I change air flow direction and speed and open and close valves I can sometimes fix it for a while but after a bit the problem reoccurs. Mine does not have dual zone. I'm convinced my issue is linked to the valves inside the dash being sticky. Otherwise the problem wouldn't be intermittent. Cooling system still works but air doesn't come out where it's meant to and it isn't being mixed properly.

The air mixer/directional valves are covered under the Relax warranty for another 9 months but a lot of the air conditioning system isn't.  Hesitant to take it to main dealer unless I'm sure it's covered by warranty as they are expensive. But if covered by warranty work is free - trouble is to diagnose if covered main dealer want £140 (refunded if covered by warranty)!!!

Let me know if you find out what's causing your problem as I'm sure it's the same.

[Mooly]

Some Auris from 2010 have dual climate control where you can vary left and right settings independently so I would make sure it is in the 'Auto' setting first.

Although it could be flap related if Dual Zone it is also typical of exactly what @solero mentioned earlier and that is low on refrigerant which can give this symptom of cold on one side and warm on the other as the evaporator is starved of refrigerant and this causes something called a high superheat condition.

 

5 hours ago, Willss said:

Mine does not have dual zone. I'm convinced my issue is linked to the valves inside the dash being sticky. Otherwise the problem wouldn't be intermittent.

Truly intermittent or does it depend on ambient temperatures and the amount of cooling needed. If a high cooling load is needed and the charge is low you can get this symptom.  

[Willss]

4 hours ago, Mooly said:

Some Auris from 2010 have dual climate control where you can vary left and right settings independently so I would make sure it is in the 'Auto' setting first.

Although it could be flap related if Dual Zone it is also typical of exactly what @solero mentioned earlier and that is low on refrigerant which can give this symptom of cold on one side and warm on the other as the evaporator is starved of refrigerant and this causes something called a high superheat condition.

 

Truly intermittent or does it depend on ambient temperatures and the amount of cooling needed. If a high cooling load is needed and the charge is low you can get this symptom.  

Thanks for suggestion. Should have said that passenger vents can almost stop blowing air sometimes. If I close the driver's side there is a bit of a noise and then air rushes out the passenger side. Pretty sure it's a directional issue but TBH I'll probably be trading it in in the autumn so can't be doing with spending time or money on it! Can open the windows in the meantime!!!

[davet30]

19 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

It couldn’t be low on gas or issues with the flaps. 
If the car hasn’t got any re gas in the last 4 year’s perhaps as suggested above start with system test and regas, then after you are certain that there is the correct amount of oil and gas if still only blow from one side , next step will be flaps actuators. 
But before all that you need to check hvac settings, if non hybrid these cars has dual zone , make sure been selected both sides to blow cold. 

Thanks,

Is there a difference between dual zone and dual control??

The passenger side blows very hot where the other is cold.  When you say the other side of the evaporator are you suggesting the coolant outlet splits to 2 separate evaporators 1 per car side?  And not, how I envisaged, just the 1 evaporator with the airflow passing through it and then splitting for the 2 sides. 🤔

Thanks

[TonyHSD]

41 minutes ago, davet30 said:

Thanks,

Is there a difference between dual zone and dual control??

The passenger side blows very hot where the other is cold.  When you say the other side of the evaporator are you suggesting the coolant outlet splits to 2 separate evaporators 1 per car side?  And not, how I envisaged, just the 1 evaporator with the airflow passing through it and then splitting for the 2 sides. 🤔

Thanks

Hi, 

sorry I can’t answer your question. I have never worked on either of these hvac systems and on my own car it’s a single zone climate control, I never had any issues to date. 

[Mooly]

Its just one evaporator with the refrigerant entering at one side and exiting at the other. If it is starved of refrigerant the entry point and that part of the evaporator will get cold but there is insufficient refrigerant to maintain cooling across the whole evaporator. 

Much also depends on the physical layout of how the cool air is passed from evaporator to the vents but low charge is a known cause of warm air from one side and cold from the other.

If the air is really 'hot' from one side and cold from the other then that maybe sounds more like a flap issue particularly if dual zone. If the difference is more like cool/ambient vs cold then could be charge level.

 

7 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Is there a difference between dual zone and dual control??

AFAIK dual zone and even tri zone allow control over different parts of a vehicle such as front and rear and is more likely seen in mini busses and so on. I think there is still only one evaporator.