Test recirc actuator without disassembly?

I noticed today that the cold air coming out of the end vents was at exactly the same temperature regardless of the setting for fresh air/recirculate. We just went through that exact same problem on our Accord, where it would change state on the climate controller but the actuator wasn't moving. (It had probably been broken for a long time.) Is there some definitive test to run on this Prius that will verify that the recirc actuator is working? Other than taking apart the dash to see it in action. On the Accord if the car was stopped and it was dead quiet I could (just) hear the mechanism moving, but that didn't work for me on the Prius. My hearing sucks these days though, so if the Prius mechanism is quiet, my not hearing it isn't strong proof that it is broken.

 

Thanks, will try that. Hopefully it moves.

Looks like the air inlet servo is mounted above and to the left of the cabin filter, facing it from the passenger seat. The manual only describes removing it in the context of disassembling the blower. In the event that this one has failed, is it possible to swap one without tearing the entire dash apart?

By coincidence the equivalent actuator failed in our Accord recently. Some disassembly was required, only around the glove box, and a lot of cable unplugging. Honda mounted the actuator on a metal plate which was fastened in with two screws on the side facing the cabin. So once all the cables which were in the way were moved aside that actuator on its metal plate came out easily. The Prius one looks tough, because the screws are aligned parallel to the long axis of the dash, and I'm betting that there is something in the way that prevents them from being removed in place, even if the top is off the dash.

In terms of reliability and serviceability the use of actuators instead of manual controls with cables was a big step backwards. The biggest problem I ever had with the older technology was one of the cable holder clips slipping off its mount point, and then the cable would get into an odd geometry and it wouldn't work. Which was always obvious because when the knob turned it felt wrong, and sometimes one could hear the cable hitting things when it twisted around. Never took more than a couple of minutes to put the clip back on, albeit with some awkward body positions to reach it, then back in business, and it only ever did that on a single car of the many we owned. Wait, I once routed one of the cables wrong, after pulling out the climate control, but again, an easy fix. These actuators though, what a PITA. Usually. Not the ones which are mounted in an accessible location, but that is more the exception than the rule these days. Also, the list price for the OEM ones is, well, obscene.

 

Tombuk2 is correct, the foam door is right behind the glove box. The actuator on ours is working since that door opens and closes normally. It is also very quiet, it doesn't make the final "thump" some of these do when they close fully. It looks like the blower assembly needs to come out to access that actuator, and that means the top of the dash must come off, along with lots of stuff on the passenger's side. I'm hoping this actuator lasts a long, long time, because that would be a colossal pain in the butt.

So, that takes us back to the initial observation - the temperature of the air coming out of the end vents, or at least the driver's side end vent, didn't change in fresh vs. recirculate in a setting where the center vents were heated. Why? Last time I checked the outside driver's side vent did blow cold air when the A/C was engaged on a hot day.

For the current observation it was around 57F outside and 70F inside (as shown on the MFD in climate mode), and the end vent temperature felt much closer to 57 than 70. I didn't have a thermometer handy at the time. AC was not on, in any mode (defrost, explicit AC) and it wasn't in Auto mode. The outlet direction buttons work and redirect air up and down as indicated. The heater control works, but apparently not for at least that one vent, which didn't feel heated at all. I could stop the cold air there by closing the vent, I guess, but, well, strange system.

 

Run the diagnostics?

Hold Auto and R/F switches on steering while turning the car on, then there is a flow chart for the rest in the manual at AC-37. Hopefully if something is sticking it will show up in the actuator checks.