1. Welcome to TRD Forums! A community for Toyota, Lexus, and Scion Enthusiasts. To enjoy all the benefits of the site, we invite you to signup.

Where is the air vent to outside air?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by plu, Jan 1, 2010.

  1. Offline

    plu Well-Known Member

    Message Count:
    665
    Likes Received:
    5
    Trophy Points:
    568
    Location:
    SC
    Where is the air vent to outside air?

    Does anyone know where is the vent that the car pulls in air from the outside when you mess with the RECIRCULATE setting on the A/C?

    I have a AC blower that leaks air from the outside when my RECIR setting is closed to the outside air. In the picture below, you see that the blower is using the air from inside the car, but if you put your hand in the blower you can feel outside air coming into the car if you are moving at a fast pace.

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    I thought the air vent was under the wiper area, but I pulled the wipers and everything off a junkyard car and I found nothing that looks like an air vent.

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    Any ideas?
  2. Offline

    KrypticKarma ~2001 Corrizm~

    Message Count:
    1,021
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    188
    Location:
    Oshkosh WI
    Damn that corolla is the same color of mine. get me the hood!! :)
  3. Offline

    xplicitcorolla99 Active Member

    Message Count:
    2,201
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Location:
    las vegas
    seriously i really want to know too where does the air come from.
  4. Offline

    MstwntdFlip Well-Known Member

    Message Count:
    269
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    168
    I also hate that especially during the winter times. my feet are so cold
  5. Offline

    MovieSTAR i hurd u liek?

    Message Count:
    3,771
    Likes Received:
    16
    Trophy Points:
    318
    Location:
    Lakewood, CO
    hey man next time you go to the junkyard can you steal me some vents from those corollas? ill pay you for them. our junkyards are fresh out of corollas.


    i always thought the vent was beneath the wipers too, im pretty sure it is there, it just isnt noticable?
  6. Offline

    plu Well-Known Member

    Message Count:
    665
    Likes Received:
    5
    Trophy Points:
    568
    Location:
    SC
    Yeah man, in truth it is actually a Prizm that I was ripping apart at the junkyard. Trust me, you don't want that hood. It's pretty dinged up.

    Which vents? Center or Left?

    It could be under the passenger side wiper area, I didn't have a flashlight to really get in there. I plan to rip apart a blower and see what's up there. I have to say those blowers are hard to pull off as there are like ten 10 MM bolts that are hard to unbolt due to the hard to reach space. Probably end up being frustrated and going hulk on the blower unfortunately.

    Here too. My theory is that the vent doors that swing open in the blower are losing their seal or need a new gasket. But from what I see, it is not a replaceable part. Think we need a new blower.
  7. Offline

    Goldy Well-Known Member

    Administrator
    Message Count:
    32,002
    Likes Received:
    2,874
    Trophy Points:
    61,468
    Vehicles:
    Lexus IS300
    Well, have you taken apart the center panel to get access to the in/out slider? That setup looks identical to mine, and there are cables running all over that push/pull on things to change the setting...

    So like it sounds like the cable is not extending or retracting enough (I don't remember).

    OK, here's a bad pic... but when I changed my dashboard to the Prizm version, I had to completely reconfigure the cables and stuff. The in/out cable is white in this pic
    [IMG]

    If you get to it, you will see that the cable is in a sleeve.... and the cable's length relative to the sleeve is what determines how far the door is open or closed. So, maybe you can play with them to adjust them to shut the door all the way.
  8. Offline

    plu Well-Known Member

    Message Count:
    665
    Likes Received:
    5
    Trophy Points:
    568
    Location:
    SC
    Yeah, I played with the cable and it is retracting and opening all the way like it should.
    Here are the breakdown of the 2 settings:

    1) When the slider is pulled to the outside air setting, the blower door closes to the cabin and no air comes in (perfect)

    2) when the slider is pulled to shutoff outside air, the blower door raises up and is suppose to seal the outside air from coming in. A little bit of air still comes through. I played with the cable and plastic tab assembly but no luck.
  9. Offline

    Goldy Well-Known Member

    Administrator
    Message Count:
    32,002
    Likes Received:
    2,874
    Trophy Points:
    61,468
    Vehicles:
    Lexus IS300
    Yeah, good... well next I would try making my own seal. Using some sort of rubber stripping, you can bump closer the lip that the door is supposed to close against, so that it closes against the new stripping.

    Just trying to save you some money and hassle lol.
  10. Offline

    KrypticKarma ~2001 Corrizm~

    Message Count:
    1,021
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    188
    Location:
    Oshkosh WI
    Do the center vents just pop out? I broke one of my inside doors on one of my center vents trying to put in a stupid air freshner :shutup: and tried pulling on it and it wont come out. I dont wanna break it more.
  11. Offline

    plu Well-Known Member

    Message Count:
    665
    Likes Received:
    5
    Trophy Points:
    568
    Location:
    SC
    No the 2 center vents do not pop out. You have the pull the whole panel that contains the clock, 2 air vents and the frame around the radio. Look for 2 hidden grooves on each side of the panel and pry out carefully with a flathead.

    That's the plan as a new blower housing with blower from Toyota is over $500.

    But I must say that it is a bad design. I took off the blower and I can clearly see that the door is not shut all the way. It is going to be hard to find weatherstripping this small.... I know that 01-02 Corolla have like a servo to open and close this door. Maybe this is the reason why this had to be redesigned. I wish I had access to an 01 - 02 to confirm that this was redesigned.
  12. Offline

    MovieSTAR i hurd u liek?

    Message Count:
    3,771
    Likes Received:
    16
    Trophy Points:
    318
    Location:
    Lakewood, CO
    plu, the left side, and right side vent on my dash are broken, just the thing that directs airflow, not the whole duct.
  13. Offline

    KrypticKarma ~2001 Corrizm~

    Message Count:
    1,021
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    188
    Location:
    Oshkosh WI
    Remeber Plu I have a Prizm :) No clock or any of that. If you need pictures to see what Im talking about I can take some. It would suck if I had to take all of that out just to change a vent.
  14. Offline

    plu Well-Known Member

    Message Count:
    665
    Likes Received:
    5
    Trophy Points:
    568
    Location:
    SC
    Does the 01-02 Prizms have the servos to open and close the air vent? If you have servos you have this setup:

    [IMG]

    For the 98-00 folks, we have a cable setup like what you see here in the bottom of the picture:

    [IMG]


    IMO, I think this cable setup is poorly designed (don't know about the servo setup). People that live in the colder climate will notice this more. Here is why.

    If you look at the picture of the blower, you see the cabin vent. This cabin vent is used to pull air from inside the cabin and recirculate in the AC blower system. The AC blower door for this cabin vent is swung up wide open letting air intake from the cabin through the AC if the cable switch is all the way set to CLOSED to OUTSIDE AIR. And then vise versa, the blower door will swing down shutting access to air intake from the cabin if the cable is set all the way to the outside air for air intake. When the blower door is swung down, this allows air from the top of the dash to freely flow into the AC blower.

    Well, my problem with why this is poorly designed is what if the cable setting is set to HALFWAY? Halfway means you want half the air from the cabin and half from the outside. In cold climate, this would mean you will take in COLD COLD air from the outside and since the cabin air vent is HALFWAY opened you will allow that COLD COLD air into the cabin also. I think this is the reason why the 01 -02 don't have the halfway option. It's either fully cabin air or fully outside air; none of this mixed temperature air entering the cabin.

    Basically, for the 98-00 when you have it on the HALFWAY setting, it's like you opened your car window halfway. In the summertime you may not notice it, you will feel that cold air.

    Try this on a cold day. Put your cable setting on the HALFWAY setting with Blower set to OFF and temperature set to RED. Then open your glove compartment box. Look at the firewall behind the glove compartment glove and you can see the AC blower. Now take a drive down the highway and stick your hand in front of that AC blower. YES that's FREEZING COLD air coming into your cabin!!!
    What happens is that this is the point where the air source(cabin air or outside air) comes in before it hits the heater core behind the center dash which would warm up the air that comes out of the car air vents. When you have it on HALFWAY, you are allowing outside air into the cabin.

    This is the same principle that some members and I have about this blower door not sealing right. The cold outside air comes into the cabin from this leak when we have the cable setting fully on the CABIN AIR only, meaning the blower door should be fully closed to OUTSIDE AIR.

    :rant:
  15. Offline

    KrypticKarma ~2001 Corrizm~

    Message Count:
    1,021
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    188
    Location:
    Oshkosh WI
    Yeah thats the setup I have
  16. Offline

    Goldy Well-Known Member

    Administrator
    Message Count:
    32,002
    Likes Received:
    2,874
    Trophy Points:
    61,468
    Vehicles:
    Lexus IS300
    Well, I would use weather stripping from Home Depot or the like... just get a roll of stuff and stick it on! :)

    And guys, the actual vents do come off no problem. I have taken them out so many times. You have to stick a small but strong flat screwdriver in one side and pry it out.

    Also, I have several, several EXTRA vents for the 93-97 Corolla. I will be more than happy to sell any for real cheap :D

Share This Page