Dysfunctional air inlet damper - cause of condensation?

[MG_88]

Been having problems with heavy condensation on windows during wintertime in my Toyota Auris 2016 HSD.

This spring the dealership fixed waterleaks in the trunks coming from the rear lights and the gas lid locking mechanism. Since there has not been any cold weather since i dont know if it has solved the condensation problems.

Last week the car was at the mechanic for a regular service and they found error code B1442 (inlet air damper control servo), they also commented the damper was not moving.

Could the damper be stuck in recirculation mode and thus be an additional cause of the condensation problems? Is there any way to prop the damper up manually into fresh mode and make it stay there? I have no use of the recirculation mode.

[solero]

Not done this, but its what i would try.

Drop the blower motor, and take out the cabin filter. The recirculate/external vent should be somewhere above the blower inlet and before the cabin filter.

If you cant see/ feel the flap, use a usb camera.

Happy fishing!

[solero]

You might not need to drop the blower , if the flap opens and closes to external intake vent above the cabin filter.

Beliw is for a 2020 corolla, but they all pretty much the same design.

 

[MG_88]

There was no need to remove the blower motor. I removed the cabin filter and in that compartment you can see the damper.

Its not moving at all when pressing the fresh button. It's stuck in the "up position" and i'm guessing this is the recirculate position?

I can prop it down manually, not all the way though, leaves about a 1-2cm gap. Problem is that when i press the  recirculate button it returns to recirculate! So this function seems to work, but not switching to fresh. The car often starts in recirculate so this would require me to prop it down manually all the time.

Any ideas here?

 

 

[solero]

There is a servo motor driving the actuator flap on the side. Im not sure how accessible it it is in situ. 

This can get stuck/go faulty due to its operation every time you start the car.

If your not bothered about fixing it, you could "persuade" it to stay open by jumping some teeth.

 

[MG_88]

The motor seems to be on the right side but cant acess it directly. How do you mean "jumping som teeth"?

[solero]

2 hours ago, MG_88 said:

The motor seems to be on the right side but cant acess it directly. How do you mean "jumping som teeth"?

Motor servo comprises of wormdrive spindle shaft which drives plastic gears with teeth. If you force (persuade) the flap open, it may jump some teeth into the open position.

You may hear some clicking when it tries to open/close the flap in which case unplug it if you can.

Not really recommended to jump teeth if you plan to repair it at a later date.

[MG_88]

Toyota dealership wanted the equivalent of 240 english pounds to fix this. As for now i just made a small rod out of metal with rubber on the ends holding the damper down.

As i said before the damper does not come all the way down, there is still a gap around 2 centimeters. Does this matter?

[solero]

1 hour ago, MG_88 said:

Toyota dealership wanted the equivalent of 240 english pounds to fix this. As for now i just made a small rod out of metal with rubber on the ends holding the damper down.

As i said before the damper does not come all the way down, there is still a gap around 2 centimeters. Does this matter?

That should do the job. If its not fully closed/open it should be ok, as long as the majority is open for fresh air intake.