hey there- I'm new to the prius family. I bought a used 2008 prius in Jan and have had a few problems with it already. I had the combo meter go out (luckily it was covered under an optional warranty I bought). Next I have an issue with the center vents not blowing. I live in FL and it is VERY hot in the summer. I went to toyota and they said the part that is messed up is a "door actuator"? I wrote the part name down on a piece of paper and put it through the wash so I'm not 100% positive. When I look up this piece online it has everything to do with DOORS and not the A/C. I'm pretty confused. The part is not covered under this warranty I bought. They quoted $700-800 to fix this. I told them no and figured i'd get a second opinion. Also not sure if this is related (i know nothing about cars) but my AMP also went out and 4/6 of my speakers don't work. Any advice prius people?
there is a flap and motor (actuator) inside the hvac vents that moves back and forth when you change the airflow button. the problem is, it's a very labor intensive job, because a lot of the das has to be taken apart. it would be worth shopping around. call todd at tampa hybrids for an expert opinion, he's a great guy, and very willing to help. it is unrelated to the amp. all the best!
Too bad it's such an old thread ... there are three vane actuators in the heater (one for whether fresh or recirculated air is drawn in, one for how much heat to add, and one for which outlets it comes out of). In Gen 1 and Gen 2, only the first one (fresh/recirc) is really hard to get to. The other two are pretty much visible if you stick your head down where the driver's feet go. (A little harder in Gen 2 because there's an extra gizmo mounted down there that's in the way of reaching one of the screws, but somebody posted a success story using a very flat offset screwdriver to reach it anyway.) And depending on what has gone wrong with the actuator, it might not even need to be replaced, but just to get a little TLC, which is free.
Hmm this would be nice if it was an inexpensive repair. My hvac has been wonky where it won’t go to the floor or windshield sometimes. Right now it’s Stuck blowing on vents only which is fine for summer, but this will need to be addressed
I finally got inverted (heels on top of the drivers seat) and stuck my head under the driver's side dash. With a helper (wife), I looked at what moved while she changed the settings on the HVAC. There are 2 actuators I could see, as ChapmanF said. Nothing moved when temperature was adjusted. But I could see one actuator deeper up in the dash move as different vents were selected. I helped moved the white plastic linkages and air finally blew out the center vents or center registers. When defrost/feet was selected air blew out the defrost, face, and feet vents. When Face was selected, air didn't blow out the face vents. I definitely had to help the movement, and I accidentally popped off the main plastic piece with grooves. So I really could see the individual 3 levers that were moved by the main linkage. One controlled (open/closed) the vents for Face, one for Feet, and one for Defrost. The levers each have a metal pin on the end that fit into the main plastic piece with grooves. I still have to figure the right setting and position to put it back together. Anyway, I'm happy I can get air to blow out the center vents for now. This means it'll be worth me working towards getting it to blow cold.
Did your helper adjust the temperature over the whole adjustment range? The actuator for temperature blend (the one you did not see moving with the outlet selection) should not be expected to move "along with" changes to the temperature setting. Instead, the ECU is comparing the car's inside temperature to the set temperature, and moving the actuator accordingly. If the inside temperature is below the setting, the actuator will largely stay put in the maximum-heating position; if you then change the setting to be below the temperature in the car, the actuator should make a prominent swing over to the not-heating position. Only if the inside temperature is rather close to the setpoint will you see that actuator taking intermediate positions.
Did you need to use a lot of force to make the air change positions (vent/defrost/floor)? I tried playing with it as well, and I’m afraid of breaking something. I had a helper Push buttons, but it didn’t appear that the actuator tried to move at all. This indicates to me that there’s a bad module in my case. I don’t mind to spend a nominal amount to fix it, but if it’s an expensive repair-AND if I can manually change the settings I would be ok with that. I just need vents in summer, floor in winter, and defrost every now and again.
I had my mode door actuator replaced for $266 parts and labor at a local independent Toyota specialist. Well worth it to me. All works great now!
Did they keep the old part? It would be interesting to see what was up with it. Really not much to them....
I should have asked to keep the part, I too would be interested to see what failed. The good news is that the part itself was only $72, and that’s a shop price, so pretty downright cheap. Thankfully the actuator is located in a spot which doesn’t require dashboard disassembly.
Go into climate settings turn up temp to max heat then after a minute lower the temp and turn on face vent. My car has done this over the years and this routine corrects it each time. Here is an example:
