As Minneapolis, Minnesota’s premier independent Toyota and Lexus specialist, CARspec is tasked to handle major repairs that would normally be relegated to the dealership. Like head gaskets on the 3.5 liter 2GR-FE, transfer case rebuilding on the 4Runner or cylinder head repair on an LS430, CARspec technicians take pride in being able to tackle the big jobs.
An RX450h with 278,000 miles (!) was brought in to the shop with a no heat concern. The technician noted that passenger side had heat while the driver did not. Coolant levels were all OK as well as the mode of airflow (face, feet, etc.). Inspection revealed that the blend door for the driver’s door airflow (regulating the mix of hot and cold air) was missing the cog attached to the blend door. The guest agreed to pulling the dash in search of the missing broken piece in hope that it could be located and reattached with epoxy. Unfortunately the missing cog was no where to be found in the dash, under the carpet, or anywhere else in the vehicle and a new air box was required (Toyota/Lexus does no sell air box doors and cog separately).
First the dash was partially disassembled:
RX450h Partial Disassembly
Then the safety pad was removed:
RX450h Dash Out
Then the crash bar was removed along with partial removal of the dash harness (mostly shifted to the driver’s side so the crash bar could be pulled out the passenger side:
RX450h Crash Bar Out
And out came the air box:
RX450h Airbox Out
Here’s the context for the broken cog on the box, just inside the heater core tubes:
RX450h Airbox Overview
And the blend door pivot broken off flush with the box, cog nowhere to be found:
RX450h Broken Blend Door Closeup
The new box for reference:
RX450h New Airbox Closeup
The owner received a new heater core and evaporator in the process, which was lucky because it was later discovered that the evaporator was leaking. While unrelated, this would have required the entire job be redone!
Overall the job went smoothly once the issue was pin pointed. Here’s the interior after reassembly:
RX450h Finished
As Minneapolis, Minnesota’s premier Toyota and Lexus specialist we were pretty proud of this one – even the dealerships felt it wasn’t worth fixing given the mileage. If you have an RX450h or RX350 with heating or cooling concerns, don’t hesitate to make an appointment by giving us a ring at 952-426-2798 today!
