scutch

I switched my cabin filter today and was nagging me from the dash. It had plenty of leaves. I put the ignition in accessories setting, then put the air on recirculate. Then opened the panel to the filter. But I had to lift that cover that comes down from the top to access the filter. In a video, it said, if that cover isn't open then put the air setting to fresh air and it will open. Neither setting had any effect on the cover opening or closing. I turned the car on and no change.

I put the new air filter in, reached in and pulled that cover down with my hand, put the black panel back on and drove around. The air works fine. in fact much better without all the leaves. But, is something broken in there? I vacuumed and pulled out as many leaves as I could.
Thanks
Eddie

Striker223

You put it on recric not fresh to open that.......

swfla

iTrader: (1)

ignition on and recirculate, might need to also set climate control to automatic. When moving door by hand there is potential to damage the gears that move it. The ac will work when the door is broken but it won't switch between fresh and recirculated air.

Gerf

Do your heater controls work when the key is in the acc position??

scutch

The door moved with complete ease like it was not connected to any gears.

swfla

iTrader: (1)

Then it's probably broken before you got to it.

scutch

When I go between recirculate and fresh air, I still hear the subtle sound of something adjusting in the glove compartment.

How can I tell if those two controls aren't doing anything? Is there a test I can run? Or is taking the panel off and watching whether the door goes up and down when I change the controls test enough?

swfla

iTrader: (1)

Start your car. Then turn on ac, set temp low, turn off auto climate setting, then hit the recirculate on and off to switch between fresh air and cabin air to see if the door moves. With these settings you're eliminating any automatic controls that may want to take over. you can also go to nav screen and enter climate control settings, there's a bunch of preferences that may affect the door operation. Also hook up an OBD2 reader and jot down any error codes and google them. If you don't have a reader, some auto part stores will do it for free or with a small purchase.

Striker223

Auto store readers can't access these systems

swfla

iTrader: (1)

Then he'll need to pay a repair facility to do it. Everything else others and I suggested can be done by owner. No guarantee it'll make a difference but I got the impression he wants to find an answer without paying anyone.

jeng9495

Hi Eddie (Scutch), I bought my LS460L earlier this year that had the same symptoms as yours. Blend door not moving regardless of fresh or recirculation setting & hearing some gears moving when the setting is changed. I had the additional behavior where my temp setting was always back to 75 whenever I turned the car on and I also had to turn the Auto setting on manually. Also, it didn't remember my last temp setting as it should when I turned the car off. If you do some searching, there is a sticky reference that describes how to open up your glove box to diagnose and get a better look at it. My linkage was disconnected as described in post #29 in the following link. I was lucky that my linkages weren't broken in pieces and was able to re-link them with a normal screwdriver. Fairly easy fix in less than an hour. Good Luck, Jeff

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...-broken-2.html

Bigguy818

I see those daily at my store wanting to look up a CEL or Battery check with out buying anything and I’m at a complete auto repair facility. I can’t stand tire kickers with all respect to OP.

scutch

Hi, I am going to take a look to see if my blend door mechanism is just disconnected, but was looking for the part number in case I need to replace it because it is broken. On this post, someone replaced their broken arm in 45 mins. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...-broken-2.html
Post #34, but for some reason the part number he gave is 8702030020, but that doesn't fit a LS460.
Can anyone confirm that you can just replace the broken part yourself? I can't seem to find this replacement duplicated on our site.
Part number?
Thanks

Mellaaro91

From what I’ve read, you can’t buy the parts needed to replace the recirc assembly separately for the LS. It’s all sold as one unit. And worse, you have to remove the entire dash in order to replace the unit.

That said, I wouldn’t worry too much as I also haven’t seen too many cases where it was actually broken. It’s usually just disconnected and it seems like it’s fairly easy to cause this disconnection. Mine was disconnected by a previous owner as well. They even installed the cabin air filter holder upside down lol. Fairly easy to get to by taking out the glove compartment. Reconnecting them is also fairly easy. Just be careful to not use too much force and end up breaking it. Good luck.

scutch

Thanks for the reply. I hope you are right. It was working fine when I first got the car in 2019. I, thankfully looked it up before I replaced it the first time. Somewhere along the way some well-meaning service guy must have broken it. I keep procrastinating on taking the glove box out. Maybe this weekend.