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Weird climate control problem

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by blastula22, Mar 11, 2013.

  1. blastula22

    blastula22 New Member

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    Heres a good one: on my 2006 (50,000 miles), the climate control intermittently malfunctions as follows. I'm driving with the a/c on, temperature set LO, I turn the temp to and the incoming air never gets warm... Alternately the exact opposite thing happens. If I have the heater on, and change the Temp to LO, the incoming air will not cool down ( I do press the AC button). And there's more: sometimes if I come to a stop the climate control will begin functioning correctly... For example if I had reset the temp to LO but only hot air would blow, when the car is at a stop, the air will get cool... But upon acceleration the air gets hot again....Again as I mentioned this behavior is INTERMITTENT! My mechanic can't figure it out, and the dealer wants $360 just to diagnose...
    Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
     
    #1 blastula22, Mar 11, 2013
  2. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    When you say "Hi" and "Lo", are you certain that you're referring to the temperature setting and not the fan speed?
     
    #2 uart, Mar 11, 2013
  3. blastula22

    blastula22 New Member

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    Yes, temperature setting.
     
    #3 blastula22, Mar 11, 2013
  4. blastula22

    blastula22 New Member

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    I am certain about that.
     
    #4 blastula22, Mar 11, 2013
  5. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Ok, hopefully you can understand why I was confused, as the fan speed has settings like low ... medium ... high whereas the temperature settings are normally in degrees. I know that if turn the degrees setting down as far as it goes then the lowest setting says something like "max cold", and though I've never gone max the other way I assume there's also a "max hot". So I guess they're the two temperature settings you're referring to?
     
    #5 uart, Mar 11, 2013
  6. Eclipse1701d

    Eclipse1701d Prius Enthusiast

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    Has the car ever been in a front end collision, even slightly?
     
    #6 Eclipse1701d, Mar 11, 2013
  7. blastula22

    blastula22 New Member

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    It's definitely the temperature settings I'm talking about.

    And no, no front end trauma.

    I just ran across a post about a part called the "blend door actuator" that sounded applicable, but there is almost no info online about it in relation to the Prius....
     
    #7 blastula22, Mar 11, 2013
  8. Eclipse1701d

    Eclipse1701d Prius Enthusiast

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    I believe the "blend door actuator" controls the recirculate or fresh air. You should be able to hear a noise from behind the center of the dashboard when you switch between the two modes. However, I don't see how that would cause the problem you are describing.

    When you turn on the A/C, if you set it to AUTO and just adjust the temperature does it work as expected, or are you experiening the same symptoms? I'm trying to narrow down the problem by asking this... Also, what is the outside temperature when you try this?
     
    #8 Eclipse1701d, Mar 11, 2013
  9. blastula22

    blastula22 New Member

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    Today it is 70 degrees F outside. I set the climate control to Auto, same bad behavior...temp is on LO (yes, there is a LO temp setting on a 2006 Prius), fan is on HI. And the dash vents are blowing out HOT air. If I sit at a stop sign long enough, the air blowing through the vents will cool down. But as soon as I rev the engine, the air gets hot again....
     
    #9 blastula22, Mar 11, 2013
  10. blastula22

    blastula22 New Member

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    When I manually raise the Temp setting I do hear a squeaky door sound at the mid to upper 70's....
    So maybe the blend door actuator is fine...
     
    #10 blastula22, Mar 11, 2013
  11. blastula22

    blastula22 New Member

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    And as I mentioned before, in cold weather the opposite problem occurs, I only get cold air no matter how Hi I set the Temp.
     
    #11 blastula22, Mar 11, 2013
  12. Eclipse1701d

    Eclipse1701d Prius Enthusiast

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    I know this is a long shot, but if the temperature of the engine or inverter gets too hot, the Prius will cut power to the A/C, or the compressor will shut down after a certain point to protect itself.

    Please take the cap off of your inverter fluid tank and check for turbuence, if the inverter pump is working properly, you will see the movement. Also, check the 12 Volt battery by doing the diagnostic via the MFD screen. Here is a link to the procedure Entering Maintenance Mode (aka 12V Battery Check) without Switching Headlights ON/OFF | PriusChat.

    If these two things check out, you may have to have the A/C system checked out. I.E., compressor leak or malfunction.
     
    #12 Eclipse1701d, Mar 11, 2013
  13. blastula22

    blastula22 New Member

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    would the fact that the reverse problem also happens (no heat when it's cold outside) rule out the inverter being the problem?
     
    #13 blastula22, Mar 11, 2013
  14. blastula22

    blastula22 New Member

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    12v battery test checks out normal
     
    #14 blastula22, Mar 11, 2013
  15. Eclipse1701d

    Eclipse1701d Prius Enthusiast

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    That's a great question! I am trying to rule things out that would cause the problem if it WASN'T an actual A/C malfunction. It could even be a computer problem... But, I would check the inverter and the 12 volt. If the battery is original, it's way past it's life expectancy and a low 12 volt causes all sorts of oddities...
     
    #15 Eclipse1701d, Mar 11, 2013
  16. Eclipse1701d

    Eclipse1701d Prius Enthusiast

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    At this point, I believe you will need to bring the car to someone and have the A/C System checked... Is there enough Freon? (It's not freon, but whatever they use for it!) Is the compressor cycling? Please post what you find!
     
    #16 Eclipse1701d, Mar 11, 2013
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