2017 Tundra air conditioner disaster!

I have a 2017 Tundra with 60,000 miles, perfect condition and have never had an issue with it. ....until last week the ac started blowing hot. It’s out of warranty, the shop reported the system is contaminated with excessive moisture (Has to be from the factory) and the system is freezing up internally at the expansion valve.
They recommend replacing the condenser and evaporator at a cost of over $2000.00!
Has anyone ever heard of this! Any recommendations!
Thanks

 

You need to find another A/C shop! You are not going to go that long and all of a sudden have an issue. A hose is leaking or a compressor shaft seal or other o-ring failure or hard component failure. (evaporator or condenser)
This is NOT FROM THE FACTORY. Moisture gets in from a system component failure. Evacuate the system and check for leaks first.

 

Your system can also freeze up from being LOW on Freon. This will also cause it to blow air that is not cool.

If it was me,I would see if there was a fellow Tundra enthusiast who could help you do a simple visual inspection to see if there is anything obvious (holes in line or condenser etc etc)

If not,I’d just get a Freon can with a gauge on it,check the Freon level,and add if necessary. You may just have a slow pinhole leak somewhere you can’t see.

Slow and simple would be the approach in my book. No need to spend thousands when there may be something much simpler going on.

I am sure other members will be contributing shortly!

Where are you located?

Hang in there and welcome to the forum!

 

The cause they gave to you is a joke. The receiver/dryer is what collects moisture from the system and can be replaced. IF excessive moisture was the issue then a simple evacuate, replace receiver/dryer, and recharge would fix it. Go somewhere else.

 

It’s not leaking, it’s not low on freon.
I believe you are right, it appears a new dryer desiccant bag is $60.00 bucks, that’s where I’m starting.

 

You can rent all the HVAC gauges and evacuation pumps from your local parts store.

you get your deposit back when you return them

If you have a handy friend, Tundra member, or trustworthy tech after business hours, you can save a ton of money and get a little hands on education

YouTube can help too

No sense in throwing away money unless you want to lol

heck I’ll give you my phone number if you want and I’ll walk you through the use of the pump and gauges I’ve done it plenty of times

even fixed my fridge Freon leak too!

 

why did they recommend replacing both the condenser and evaporator? The most common failure I’ve seen is leaking. I’ve snapped an evaporator pipe off once trying to remove an expansion valve haha. The discharge line should be hot to the touch and the suction line should be cold on a properly functioning a/c system.

 

I just replaced my condenser 'cause I cracked it off road, went with a Spectra Premium condenser for less than $200. I believe in OEM parts but not w/o at least receiving a reach around.

 

Seems like they gave you a boiler plate excuse with a big $$$ because they really didn't want to do the lob.

 

2017?
Toyota should fix it. It's bs paying that much for the car and ac fails in 3 years! My Tacoma ac was good for almost 20 years!

 

Update:
After a long day today, I replaced the desiccant drier, pulled a vacuum for several hours and began to recharge the system. I had to jump the relay to make the compressor clutch engage and drive the compressor BUT now the compressor will not build pressure, it’s not pumping at all. It runs smooth and quiet, just doesn’t pump. Is there a solenoid or some kind of valve in the circuit?
Prior to having the refrigerant removed, it was pumping fine, the low side was in a vacuum and it was pumping 150 psi ....I’m stuck...any ideas?

 

Did you blow a fuse when you jumped the AC compressor?

Did you hook up the gauges and vacuum to both the high and low side Freon ports?

After you pulled vacuum,did you close the gauges,turn off the pump,and monitor it to see if the needle moved for leaks?

Don’t panic i bet it’s something simple

You did put Freon in it,right? How much did you put? My tundra took about 2 cans before my compressor kicked in

 

Try swapping out the relay for another one that's nearby, obviously something that won't cause some other malfunction. The system monitors pressure and if there is to little or to much refrigerant the compressor likely won't cycle. The pressure sensor is in front of the condensor on the driver side. Just eyeball that and make sure its not damaged or something. Try to mark off all of the super simple stuff like a/c button turned on inside car and stuff. If it was working before there is no reason it shouldn't work after replacing the drier.

 

The compressor clutch is turning the compressor. I pulled a 400 micron vacuum on both high and low side.
There are no leaks, the compressor doesn’t pump, so it can’t be charged.
Ive charged a lot of systems over the years. Im kinda stuck.

 

You guys were right, I feel dumb, it’s something simple. I had to buy a new manifold in the middle of this job, my old one leaked. The service valves are left handed instead of right hand! I’m back on track now, pulling a vacuum. Update later, .

 

I weighed in the proper charge and the original problem still exists, the system runs in a low side vacuum and does not cool at all. It has to be a bad expansion valve or some other restriction in the liquid flow.

 

You might have to check if it has an orifice tube or some other filtering screen in the lines. It may be plugged from debris if the compressor is failing.

 

My last tundra had the AC compressor shell out around 70000 miles, fortunately I had extended warranty on truck. In the end the entire system was replaced after the compressor shell out it contaminated the entire system. Was coming back from beach just started blowing hot air, full charge and blows air but just got hotter.

 

What year was it?

 

2015 limited crew max

 

Any time you have negative pressure on the low side it’s because of a total blockage, most commonly the expansion valve stuck closed or plugged.

 

What was your low/high readings before you put the Freon in? My low side is 90psi and the high side is around 80-85 psi. My compressor seems to be engaging when I turn on the Ac though. I believe my compressor is shot.

 

Truck repaired. Expansion valve had to be replaced. Toyota did offer me reimbursement for repair parts and labor.
(The dirt in the valve didn’t come from my system).

 

Toyota reimbursed you like they should have. They can't make junk ac that fails after 3 years and say it's out of warranty ... when you pay over $45K for a car you should expect more.

 

https://youtu.be/NQJaCjv9awM
I dissected the expansion valve, see video. thx!

 

Did you change the expansion valve out yourself? If so how was it and how long did it take?

 

Well this seems really sketch after reading this thread. My Tundra has had ZERO problems then suddenly the A/C stops blowing cold air right at 68k miles. I recall a massive full court press from Toyota just before the odometer flipped close to 30k miles where they practically harassed me for weeks into trading in my truck. Their upgrade math was ridiculous and it was going to be much more expensive and a lose-lose deal for me. Long story short, this A/C thing seems rigged based on miles.

The dealer hit me with the same $2000 repair cost quote, then I threw them a curve ball when I told them I had the 10 year warranty. It took them over an hour to tell me that the warranty would cover the fix. Next thing you know, the entire dashboard and seat and console was removed to get to this mystery problem. They had my truck for 3 days. Great, they fixed it! Worked great Friday, Saturday, Sunday, then for zero reason on Monday the A/C just didn't blow cold air that morning. They claim they replaced the whole coil inside.

Now, I need to take it back and likely be without my truck for another 3 days. I tried the relay swap with a brand new one but that didn't work. So, I'm back to scouring the internet to find this forum and that others coincidentally have issues at the same mileage. This seems like a perfect gremlin to embed to create a $2000 bill that entices you to turn in the truck for a new one. Meanwhile, they probably flip a switch and put it on the market after you just got suckered into a new truck.

All users should post their mileage at their sudden A/C failures to see if there is indeed a pattern or not.

Oh, and it seems pretty convenient that a common wear-out part gets deeply buried behind the dash instead of just being accessible from under the glove box (like the filter is) or via a removable panel. This strategy ensures that other repair shops can't easily do the same fix and racks up the hours to justify the big quote.