2005 4.7L Double Cab Tundra Air Conditioner AC Temperature Temp Fluctuations

Hi All,

Looking for some direction here after spending about $1,400 troubleshooting and partially fixing my Tundra's AC. I've owned this truck since day 1. It has always blown ice cold on the AC. It finally started failing last year about 200k miles. After many tests and diagnostics from multiple shops, one concluded the condenser was bad after checking for leaks and doing several freon fills. There were no leaks but it was still losing freon somehow.

They replaced the condenser and now the truck blows ice cold again. This is where the problem comes in. After the truck has warmed up and is at cruising speed on highways 60+ mph, the cold air (when set on Max AC or just before the the Max setting on the hot and cold dial) fluctuates between ice cold dry and cool humid. It's not a really noticeable difference unless you're paying attention but noticeable enough that you're constantly messing with the temp because it doesn't hold the cold air temp steady. It swings between ice cold and cool.

I had it back into the same shop 3 times and they keep telling me they can't find anything wrong and testing the compressor and fan clutch. I know something is still not right. I've driven this truck for 200k miles and never had this issue. The only correlation I notice is a small electrical clicking sound behind the hot/cold dial. I can hear an electrical click right before it starts blowing ice cold and then switches to cool.

After having all mechanical components of the AC system inspected, what else could it be? Is there potentially an electrical component below the stereo failing? After 1.5 years of trying to get the AC working how it used to, I'm out of ideas. Any insight is greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

 

There's a known issue with the control panel going bad and not sending a signal to the compressor, IIRC.

I always fail to pay attention, but I recall folks mentioning the unit isn't something you can just pull from any other 2000-2006 truck and install

I believe there's ways to test if that's what's happening, and it's been posted before. Hopefully someone else can recall it and post a link. I'm a dick and not willing to hunt.

 

That's good to know. Would be nice to figure out how to test it. The replacement isn't cheap https://www.partsgeek.com/ss/?i=1&ssq=W0133-1753260.

 

Read these. It may help.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/ac-stopped-working.92944/#post-2344739

https://www.tundras.com/threads/ac-integration-control-panel.71787/#post-1847218