Well I went to replace the cabin filter for the first time since I got the car, I've kind of been dreading doing it because I was worried about what I would find when I looked behind that little panel.

Yep. Fears justified. In recirculate mode before I began, I found that the door was closed. Changing between recirculate and fresh air mode didn't move it one bit and the door is free and loose. I went ahead and moved it out of the way and changed the dirty filter, which didn't look like the toyota boxed one I was replacing it with. Looks like this car has been the victim of somebody stupid working on it in the past.

I guess I don't have a recirculate mode in this car. Now, I'm not terribly cracked by this discovery since honestly I couldn't tell one way or another over the past year that it was broken. It doesn't make any awful noises, I've never been too hot or too cold. I'm just miffed that I didn't know to check this before I bought the car.

What a terrible design. Both in that it's not absolutely clear that this step is needed to prevent breaking it (there should be a big crazy warning label on that door!) and the fact that it's such an expensive procedure to fix it. I've never heard of any other make of car having this kind of issue. GRR.... there is also no recourse for me that I can think of.

I guess I'll just leave the sucker on auto and just try to go back to my ignorance bliss. But anyway, since nothing seems to be clickety clackety when switching to recirculate mode... I can hear a slight sound of the motor trying to do something. Is it possible that nothing is broken and that the arm that moves it is just off of a track or something? If that's the case, does anybody have any first hand knowledge about just how much stuff needs to be removed to get a clear look at the mechanism?

If I just need to take a few panels off under the glove box to look at it, I'm willing, but if I have to remove tons of stuff I don't want to go there. If it's an hour or two of work to get things apart and back together again and there's no big gotchas that could cause me to cause more damage it might be worth taking a look at. Who else has this broken?

i'm gonna be replacing my filter for the first time.

the techs check it every time i go for an oil change.

i hope a n00b tech didn't break the hinge.

checked the owner's manual, and it clearly says to put the a/c in recirc mode.
Those who broke it didn't RTFM




that motor sound should be normal. it's just the arm swinging a door to close off fresh air intake.

GS300 Ken,

How did you remove the airbox? Did you consult the service manual or just crawl underneath the dash and begin removing screws?

I didn't checked my owner's manual in IS250
And I broke this small thing
(how should I call? This small thing - junction between small motor and the airbox)
If this junction broken like mine (in 2 peaces), it's possible to repair.
Ofcourse the most difficult is to remove the airbox.
I didn't do it by my self. Friend helped me to do the main job.

I read a post from IS forum and follow this guy's instruction. It's PITA to remove the airbox and you have to work slowly without breaking more stuffs or explode the knee airbags. I was very lucky to buy a whole airbox from another GS300 at the junkyard.

http://my.is/forums/f115/anyone-repl...-steps-392877/

And ONLY with assistence of friend

Knee airbax just place on floor mat gently

I've pretty much decided to forget about it again. Honestly I can't even tell it's broken, other than the fact that I get a rattle from whatever broke off in there when I make turns sometimes particularly on a grade... the sound of something plastic shifting and hitting another piece of plastic once in a while. That's the most annoying part, other than the simple knowledge that something isn't right in there.

If I ever find that airbox intact second hand for cheap in the future I'll consider the surgery, though the prospect of working around airbags kind of freaks me out a bit.

At one point I tried to figure out how to get the lower cover off, underneath the knee airbag and I couldn't find any screws or anything so I gave up quickly. I think perhaps if I could just get that very bottom cover in the footwell off the broken piece might just drop out and I can at least eliminate the annoying sound.

Is it just a matter of pulling it off, any tips?

Yep,

Thats the part I broke. Cussing up a storm today. One simply step (air in recir mode) cost me alot time and frustration. I read the post in the IS forum. Not alot of help with out pictures. I can't even get the glove box out. I ordered a service manual from Ebay for $40. Probably start next week end.. Thx for the response.

I can't remember exactly if my friend had disconnected the airbag. (connector)

I can advise to disconnect negative from battary to be safe.

And, yes, it's just a matter of difficulties of pulling out this airbox.
Recommend to do it with your friend, so you can feel the airbox..

i don't disconnect airbag. i just take it off and put it aside, making sure that the wire is not pulled

I don't understand the concept of having a friend help in the removal of the airbox. The workspace is so confined what contribution could a friend make?

Wedge a large blade flatblade screw driver between the the junction of the airbag plastic piece and the lower plastic piece. It is simply friction fit with four connectors. Using the screw driver move along the separation to find the four areas of connection. The plastic piece is meant to by pryed off. Once I got that bottom piece off I could see the free floating broken piece that controls the air recirculation. However I could only remove the broken piece from the upper section accessed thru the glove box.

If you don't want to break smth then ask for assistence.
Airbox is not small toy to handle it by yourself. It's big enough.
If it was so easy to remove, no one would have problems with it, don't you think so..

It took me and my pal about 30-40 min to remove it.
One try to pull it from driver side, and another from passenger side.
For one person it's not so easy to do, just believe me.

I would like to tell, but English is not my native language.

RenatUSSR, do you mind sharing how you took out the airbox?

I need to do exactly the same thing with my IS250. Specifically, I want to remove the door and the arm hooked to the servo (i.e damper). If there is a way to pull out the door without removing the airbox, would love to know that as well

damn it. I briefly looked at the DIY guide stickied on the forum for IS models. I do see that a link below is a correction or correct instruction for GS models, but a little too late now.
I force opened the filter housing gate and changed the filter. I could not close the gate so I forced it and I am quite certain I broke it. Now I guess I won't be able to run recirculate mode every again.

3GS DIY sticky thread needs an update. Some PDF links don't even exist anymore.