Geremology101

It appears that I changed my A/C filter without pushing the air recirculation button and now I have to spend $1700 fixing the blend door/ servo.

Right now nothing major is happening--only the climate control system turns itself off when I leave the car and resets to 75 every time, but will this get worse?

Are there any methods or places to go to save the $1700? Can I get this repair done at a Toyota dealership instead?

jstjohnz

Ouch! This sounds like a design defect. There should be a BIG warning label by that filter door. There was a guy on Ebay a while back parting out a 460.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

expensive fix, seen people making the same mistake in both 3gs as well

i doubt it will get worse, but that's just my thinking though. i don't think it's something toyota can fix? don't think this is a part they share in their cars. worth looking into though

design defect? how so? before any job is done, instructions should be studied

cmasten

I made this mistake on my GS, I looked into all the various avenues and there were none, shy of just taking it to a good Lexus mechanic and having them do it, in place of the dealer, I found a couple of independents that would do it for under a grand, its almost all labor, but its a whole day to take it all out, fix it and put it all back.

For me, I just left the door to the air filter off in the glove box and either set it to internal or external air input. 90% of the time it was external, but its easy enough to switch back and forth. The major bummer is the smog sensor wont have any effect so if your in traffic an get behind a smelly car, you have to manually flip it closed. The amount of impact I noticed on the blending it does was minimal compared to the above scenario I decided to just leave it to external and call it a day, but it always bugged me that it was not working as designed...

Mike_TX

Yep, hate to say it, but you gotta read the instructions!

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rominl

iTrader: (4)

it's that hard to remove the filter / door assembly to fix? i suppose the problem is a broken clip or so? or some sensors broken?

cmasten

I have not looked at the inside of an LS, but on the GS, its a very simple plastic gear that is attached to a small motor and that leads up to door which sits atop the exchanger unit.

The problem is that this gear and assembly is stitting in a very narrow space and the only way to get at it is to totally take that area apart, I bought the service manuals for the GS, and just got them for my LS and SC, but have not looked at that portion yet, I would presume Lexus made them just as difficult to get at.

I agree that its a really poor design in that its so easy to break this part if you even slightly pull on the the door, but your right, reading how to do this up front would be wise.. I just got excited and wanted it replaced now.. and once I heard the snap and saw what I did.. and then read about others and the cost.. my heart sank.. its really a crappy feeling, even a warning on the door in the glove box would be easy and probably stop 99% of the people from experiencing this.

Johnny

I never considered that when I changed my filter, so I'm puzzled why this happened to you - on a fairly simple procedure. I've had the filter out a few times since to add air freshening drops, and every time it goes back together without any hitches. Can you elaborate further on what exactly it is you did?

jlawr

Sounds like he tried to change the A/C filter while the system was in the "outside" air mode instead of "recirculate" mode. That's a no no.

cmasten

when you take off the plastic access door in the glove box you will notice the dark grey hood either up, (thus exposing the filter and shutting off the outside air) or down and blocking your view of the filter and its pulling outside or fresh air.

Lexus decided that the only way to get at the filter was to have the blending unit on recirculate mode so it pulls the door up allowing access to the filter.

There is an urge to just flip the door up if the filter is not exposed and that is where you put stress on the plastic gear and its very easily broken.. thus the expensive repair, because the only way to get at it is hours of disassembly and then reassembly.. its a little cheap plastic mechanism.

It must happen often as Lexus did release a TSB for how to do it. There are many folks out there that have made this mistake, myself included.

For those that change this filter themselves, its very simple, but be aware, if you DONT see the filter, STOP and make sure the AC is set to recirculate.. then you will see the blending door move up and out of the way exposing the filter and its safe to change at that point. I guess you have a 50/50 chance if you didnt know this :-)

rominl

iTrader: (4)

as people mentioned it depends on whether you are on re-circulate or fresh setting. if you are on re-circulate, then you are fine

jstjohnz

You seriously don't think that a $1700 repair bill for trying to change an air filter without putting the AC in a certain mode is indicative of a poor design?

I don't recall anything similar for the cabin filter change on the LS430.

Johnny

Thank y'all!



It would be useful (and logical) if Lexus would put an exclamation warning sticker on the filter access door.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

again, no one should go and do things without finding out the correct instructions. otherwise there is always a price to pay. i don't see that as a design "defect".

there is a plug behind the climate control that's empty and you can actually plug the clock harness into it, and it can fry your climate control ecu. is that a design defect? no. before you take apart the unit you should know where everything is plugged into.

there are tons of stuff on this car (and all cars imho) that can go wrong if one doesn't follow instructions correctly. i agree with burnaby, a warning side would help a lot. but i won't agree it's a design defect

jstjohnz

There are certain tasks that shouldn't require reading the manual, and an air filter change is one of them. And as to your example re the clock harness, yes I would say that is a poor design also. One purpose of having multiple shapes, sizes, and colors of connectors is to eliminate the possibility of inadvertently plugging a cable into the wrong connector, particularly when it would cause damage.