AC compressor is running without turn on the AC.

Noticed a week ago that AC compressor is running as if the AC is on. Not sure if that is normal as this was the first time I could hear it engage and disengage. Any tips as to what to do would be greatly appreciated.

 

Any chance you had it in the defrost setting?

 

No, I used it mostly on high AC during the summer. I noticed it during my trip to Alaska when I went to do a visual inspection prior to the start of my trip. No heat or AC was on and the setting was on body and feet fan. I know that when I turn the defrost the AC light comes on and I can shut that off.

 

I know when I turn my selector to the floor and window setting, the AC light does not come on, but the AC compressor does come on.

 

Ya, Yoda does some stuff behind the scenes. This is one of them and I've seen it through OBD fusion where you see it cycle as you can read the Evap core temp. When it shows 32F and the AC button is off, but anything near defrost kicks it on.

What is crazy tho is I ran a seized compressor (not clutch) for 4 months until I replaced it and it never killed the engine from hitting any of the gremlin modes. Yet, if you turned the 'AC' panel switch to 'on' it would try and stall the engine until the electronics kicked it off with a flashing AC light. Maybe it stored a code that prevented this? idk, I didn't look.

Her 21 Rav4 bare bone model does the same stuff 11 year later.