Seems like I'm having to crank the temperature up higher and higher (numerically) to avoid freezing myself out in the GX in the summer. Used to be ~72-74deg was a comfortable setting, regardless of outside temp. Now it seems like I'm running a 77-78deg setting on the climate control in order for things to feel right. Any lower and I just get frozen-out.

Oddly, if I have the rear AC on (if it's super hot outside, or if the kids are in the back) things are a bit more normal.

Anybody run into something like this? Ideas?

Thanks!

 

Well for one, the hotter it is outside, the longer it'll run. It'll run longer on 74/75 in 90 degree weather than it would at 85 degrees. Even if you can't tell it's that much hotter, the car can, and will compensate.

 

Being in Florida I don't have that problem. My setting stays on the coldest, the only thing I adjust is the fan.

 

Yeah. You can hang meat inside my 06.

I routinely have it set at 78 and occasionally 79 on days in the 90s.

If I go lower then I need a turtleneck.

But I would rather have it cold than hot.

 

Thanks guys. I could have sworn that 3-4 years ago I kept the setting @ 72-74deg all summer. Feels like a temperature sensor is going south, but it isn't severe enough to take it to the dealer and spend the $$.

 

Maybe the AC gets better as it ages? I find also myself having to raise the temperature because it gets too cold. At least you know it's working.

 

Or maybe we are turning into our parents.

Running the heat in summer. "It's too cold, turn that air off. Where is my sweater vest"

:-)

 

LOL, could be!

 

I have an '03 4 Runner Ltd and an '04 GX. Nearly identical cars mechanically.

I am amazed at how much colder the GX AC is!

Some days, I have to run it up to the high 70s to keep from getting frost bite, but I'm glad it has the capability to really cool the car down.

Typically the 4R is set around 69-71F.

I turn all the vents away from blowing directly on me too.

 

Yeah, our system is definitely powerful. My theory is that I have an internal temp sensor that's getting lazy. Wish I knew where it was. I'd replace it if it was cheap. 74deg used to mean just that -- 74deg in the interior. Now it feels like it's cooling down even farther than that on hot days (like 65deg), and I have to compensate by turning the desired temp "up". Not much of a headache, but it was definitely "set it and forget it" when new.

 

Maybe the cooler thermistor?

http://lexus.sewellparts.com/oem-cat...X470-2006.html

 

Anyone know if this is the exterior or interior thermistor that is changing the interior.
Mine is also running cool when its hot out.
88625C 8862547021
COOLER THERMISTOR interior
88790B 8879022131
THERMISTOR ASSEMBLY external

 

I'd go ahead and change them both - they're cheap parts. The interior one is harder to get to (see my post from a few days ago), but the outside one is dead easy to get to - just open the hood and it's right there by the horns.

Chip H.

 

In judging whether the automatic climate control setting is functioning properly, you really need to consider a couple of things.

In the GX, there is a large cabin that needs to be cooled. That means that a lot of cold air needs to be forced through just a few vents. The temperature of the air coming through those vents is likely to be somewhere between 45 and 50 degrees, even if you have the climate control set to, say, 76 degrees. And, when you are driving, you are sitting very close to the source of the cold air. You are probably wearing a short-sleeved shirt, and, with your hands on the steering wheel, that 45-50 degree air is likely blowing on your bare skin, which is going to make it feel very cold. But that cold feeling can be somewhat deceiving with regard to what is going on in the rest of the cabin. If you measured the temperature in the middle of the entire cabin and by the time that the air conditioned air has been dispersed throughout the cabin, my guess is that the temperature in the middle of the cabin would be fairly close to the set temperature of 76.

I've had my GX since it was new in 2005. Throughout that time, during the summer and when using the AC, I've had the temperature set to between about 75 and 77. Again, even at 77, the air coming out of the vents and blowing directly on the bare skin of my arms can make it feel quite chilly, but, if I change the position of the vents on the dash and direct the air away from my arms, the air in the cabin feels much warmer. If you try it yourself, I'll bet you will see the same thing. With the temperature set at 77 and with the vents blowing directly on you, it will feel colder than if you had the temperature set to 72 or 73 and positioned the vents so that the air is not blowing directly on you.

As an added point, I know that, with the heat in the winter, if I set the climate control system to somewhere between 68 and 70, which is where I would normally expect to have to set it, the inside of the cabin feels quite comfortable. That is one added data point that tells me that the thermostat is likely working properly and that it just feels cold with AC in the summer because there is the large volume of very cold air needed to cool the entire cabin, and that very cold air is blowing directly on bare skin from a very close distance.