Vent Control Binding - Solved

Yesterday I went to change the vent control from face to defrost (basically a full swing of the knob). It got bound up, and as I worked it back and forth, I heard a pop in the dash. Ever since, it seems the vents are blowing one setting clockwise from the dash on the knob.

For instance, in the attached pic, it should be all upper face vents, but it's actually coming from both the face and footwell vents.

The face/footwell setting is only sending air to the footwell, etc. etc. When I try to go to full defrost, the knob basically stops at defrost/footwell, will move slightly to defrost, then bounce back.

Overall, it's like my the vent control has "skipped a tooth."

Any suggestions before I start pulling the dash apart?

 

Suggest not pulling dash
Remove 5 phillip screws to access controls and find out what broke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NNZ5bGOgSw

 

Aren't they controlled by a series of small cables? It sounds like a cable broke or popped off.

 

Maybe the knob cracked or stripped. I had happen on mine.

 

You can just pull on that knob and it will come off, its on a square post. It sounds like you may have broken the plastic knob mount. Pull it off and you can see if its cracked.

$9 AC Climate Control Knobs Fits for Toyota Tundra - Air Conditioner Heater Control Switch Knob for 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 Toyota Tundra, Replacement for The Part# 55905-0C010, Pack of 3

https://www.amazon.com/Climate-Cont...argid=aud-801381245258:pla-589432345133&psc=1

 

I’ve broken my knob, but the dial would still properly turn if I kept proper pressure on it.

Sounds like a cable attachment snapped/slipped in the rear of dash. With a broken mounting point on cable it has no tension and the cable can’t make the next notch.

 

Mine also binds when going into and out of defrost but I just loosen my grip and then slowly try again and it works fine. Just gotta be gentle and treat it like a lady.
I wish it didn't bind and I'm not sure why it does. I never had this issue on my 03 Tacoma with similar climate controls

 

I think some of those cables are visible from underneath and I've actually thought about lubing mine with some silicone spray. I'll report back.

 

While I have the center cluster panel out working on cig lighter light, I have put some silicone grease designed for plastic gears that I got from the Overhead door guy when fixing a neighbors garage door opener. There are a number of places in there to apply maintenance. After fifteen years, fortunately mine looked pretty decent but I still try to remember to use some care when turning these old knobs.

 

I used Vaseline. The doors footwell panel and ductwork needs removing for this view. Had it open when lubing my column shift and changing the key ignit bulb to LED. Smoov!

 

I tip my hat to you fine sir.

 

Now everytime I turn that knob, I will think of the sexiest hands, gloved I’m sure, rubbing petroleum jelly, all over those cables, slots, and pivots.

mine need some lubrications I’m sure

 

Off topic but I'm excited to see your rig with bumpers

 

There was a post on this back in april. I attached a pdf on how to adjust the cables.

 

Awesome, thanks all for the suggestions! I'll report back when I figure it out.

 

There's also a couple plastic sprockets in the mechanism with one kind of plastic gear in between. That can break if you force the knob, or potentially pop out of place. I had a broken one I replaced, but the cable still had a bit of resistance. Silicon spray helps. Think I used garage door lube.

Whoever owned my truck previously probably never used the defrost settings.

 

Alright, well I got this fixed! I used two videos (one of which BubbaW linked earlier in the thread) to diagnose and repair my binding vent controls. I actually had two issues and I solved them both.

First off, you access the actuators from the driver's side footwell. It's not comfortable. There is also an impossible-to-see connection you have to make with the longest cam arm at the top. But overall, it's not super hard, just a pain to access.

I "re-timed" my knob after accessing the vent controls on the dash. The The knob sits on a geared arm that turns a toothed lever. Well the knob control can be pulled out some once it's facing down which disengages the gears. I was able to disengage the gears, then flex the arm over enough to re-align the control. It's hard to explain, but it works.

I then did the same thing as int he below vids for the vent control system. My issues was the same...the pin grooves were really gunked up. I pulled off the arms and cleaned them up and re-surfaced the pin grooves with 2000 grit sandpaper. I also re-lubed with a dry lube.

Word of caution...when removing the pieces, there is one connection that is a tiny plastic knob that snaps into one of the control arms. I doesn't just snap out (I broke off the tiny knob), and I'm actually not sure how you would disconnect it...maybe snap ring pliers to move both tabs away from the little knob. In any case, I super-glued it back on and it snapped back into place without issue. I'm hoping it holds. But even if it doesn't, it shouldn't really affect anything and I could always wire/ziptie/etc the connection later if needed.

The controls now work well. Definitely not new-car good, but I can access all setting without jamming now. So, I'm calling it a success.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NNZ5bGOgSw

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vToAwnD5TM

 

One can grease up all those pivot points as a preventative measure, as well.

Just pull the climate control panel and all those other levers are accessible. You can even grease some of the cables end points at each end of the attachment points where they slide into the sleeve.

The other access spot is from the driver side as you mention (pictured).

 

This thread is good. I need to mess with my heat control. I took the cable off the blend valve under the hood and ever since I can only turn to about 3/4 hot. It all looks good under the hood (I think) so I need to check the Goldberg device of sprockets and such in the dash.

 

While I had out the lube doing the brake service, I put some on the heater valve operator going to the heater core.

Extend it out and lube it. Twist the heat dial back in and do the same. This works the lube into the cable sleeve as best it possible. Helps a little in the dial action smoothness.

Old pic so no busting on my brake fluid darkness.

 

Being one setting off, what happened when you turned it to defrost?

Did it unlock some new setting that we don't even know about?

Would it suck you into another dimension where the timing belts are free and rust never existed?

 

What's up with that brake fluid?

 

When I had my '03,After getting home from work, I had a habit of setting the heater controls where I wanted them in the morning on those cold winter days. No fun trying to turn them when cold.

 

Yeah, it defrosted the *outside* of the window. Super handy! But I'm not sure what this "rust" stuff is you speak of. Never heard of it.

Actually, before I fixed it I couldn't get it to move to the defrost position (the foot/defrost was the defrost so it still worked, I just couldn't get to the the full upper/face vent setting). Seeing the insides now it was because I was at the end of cable and it couldn't move any more (and obviously because it had gotten out of alignment).

 

Your Feb 3, 2020 post about "re-timing" the bevel gear and sector gear was a great help. I could not get the "timing" exactly where I thought it needed to be. I went one step further and altered the ribbed shaft with the bevel gear. There was one raised rib which allowed the bevel gear/shaft to be reinstalled only with the rib in 6 o'clock position. Once reinstalled, the raised rib keeps the bevel gear/shaft from pushing out. I ground off most of the raised rib. I put the bevel gear/shaft in drill chuck, and turned slowly while cutting groove in the shaft with dremel tool skinny disc. Then I installed a circlip to keep the gear/shaft in place. It got the "timing" where it needed to be. So far, has worked ok.

 

stupid question @Professional Hand Model but this view is with the left side of the center console taken off right?

 

Yes. I removed the skirt below the steering wheel to polish some 10mm nuts for fun. While I was down there, I saw a squirrel shoot into the duct work so I chased it.

Seriously, its looking from the driver footwell. The skirt is off and I started removing duct work for sound proofing the firewall. Went ahead and cleaned the inside of the duct work and lubed up the gears etc.

You can remove the steering casing and lube up the shifter ball bracket and cable etc whilst in that area. Makes a big difference. I’d lube every cable I see and work the dials back and forth and lube it again so everything works in nicely.

Do your ignition light bulb swap if you haven’t when its all open.

 

After reassembling from my stereo HU upgrade, my far right mode knob felt stuck around 12 o'clock position. I physically had to "force" the mode knob between 'foot-only mode' and 'foot-head blend mode'. It was more difficult than normal but not impossible, and I managed to go back/forth then push it to make a 1st hop between those modes.

At first I thought maybe I'd installed the knob on the wrong way and that's why it was so tough to switch - like maybe I was 1/4 turn out. I forgot the knobs are square with a key on one side so you can only install it one way. I popped the knob off to check, only to to hear a cling-clang as the metal tensioning insert installed in the knob's square plastic shaft flew out ... spent 25 minutes trying to track it down.

So now I have two issues:

One, it still takes significantly more force to hop between the 'foot-only' and 'foot-head' two modes I mention above - I hear a 'clunk' when I make hop between those two modes specifically. I also find when rotating the mode knob CW/CCW between those two modes, the amount of effort required for that jump makes me jump past one setting setting entirely.

Two, the metal tensioning insert won't stay in because, as I found after the fact, apparently the square shaft cracked, so I had to glue/clamp it along the outside crack, then applied heatshrink around the shaft to help with future tension.

Anyway, here's where mine cracked and the insert in case someone finds they have a loose knob or they experience what I have. I need to hit the JY to get a spare knob. I still have some level of control over my output, so I haven't dealt with the controller yet.

EDIT: Just to clarify, all of my modes *seem* to be working ok, but it still requires force when rotating CW/CCW between the the foot-only and foot-head modes.

 

On my last tundra i used to own before totaling it (rip truck), the cables would always pop off and i would have to pop them back on. I would gain access to them by reaching up toward the middle of the dash from under where the passengers feet go