Heater Always Heating (4.2 Vvti 2.0l 3dr)

[ShamblesX]

Hello, dear gurus of the Rav world B)

I would appreciate some of your thoughts on a problem my dear missus is having with her beloved silver baby, purchased in Feb this year.

It's a 2003 2.0L 4.2 3dr manual, almost exactly the same as pic #5 (Bitman) in the "Rav4 Model Range" sticky.

No matter where the heater dial is set she's telling me her feet are roasting and hot air flows to the face when moving (if the face vent is in the open position). It's been like this since we got her. The car, that is.

Over the past few weeks I've been checking out threads in this section but can't find an exact match to her problem.

In this pic I have arrowed a small white plastic "thing" which does move when the heater dial is moved between the two extreme settings. I think it's in the fully hot position in the pic. What I'd like to know is, is there anything I can check that might not be moving somewhere else near the heater matrix that might perhaps be sticking?

The bottom pic is in fully cold position.

Pics can be clicked for larger version.

Grateful for any pointers so we can move forwards with this. Thanks

[anchorman]

Will look at this ASAP - sit tight.

[anchorman]

Will look at this ASAP - sit tight.

Just have a look at the attached pdf. The one you arrowed is for the "direction" and the other one is for temperature. Do you think somebody has swapped the cables?

heater.pdf

[ShamblesX]

Thanks for looking for me and posting the pdf.

I've just been out and checked... the direction control dial (the upper of the two cables in my 2nd pic) does alter the airflow between feet, face and window, so that seems to be the right cable.

The heater control cable does match illustration "Y" (18056) in your pdf, so I'm now at a loss :(

Is there any mileage in me removing the glovebox to see if anything moves at the passenger side?

Thanks again - it's really appreciated

[anchorman]

Shouldn't be really.

The heater is an "air mix design" which means that hot water is always pumped through it and the control just opens a gate which is either open to fresh air or closed and draws air from across the radiator or anywhere inbetween. It suggests that the flap is stuck and you can't get it to move to the full cold position. Have another look at that link and see if it;

a/ is moving through the full travel (if necessary just unclip the cable and see if you can move it further by hand)

b/ the link is actually attached and is not moving independant of the actual spindles it is attached to

[anchorman]

Shouldn't be really.

The heater is an "air mix design" which means that hot water is always pumped through it and the control just opens a gate which is either open to fresh air or closed and draws air from across the radiator or anywhere inbetween. It suggests that the flap is stuck and you can't get it to move to the full cold position. Have another look at that link and see if it;

a/ is moving through the full travel (if necessary just unclip the cable and see if you can move it further by hand)

b/ the link is actually attached and is not moving independant of the actual spindles it is attached to

[ShamblesX]

Thanks anchorman. I'll detach the cable and check for full rotation.

I wasn't aware of how the mixture was set, but it explains why it's always hot around the matrix when I reach up from the passenger side.

Cheers

[ShamblesX]

I can't explain what exactly happened, but that advice to remove the cable and check the travel by hand seems to have sorted it.

When I moved the cable-free plastic disc fully backwards then fully forwards a few times, it seemed to latch onto something... almost like it picked something up on the travel. Then the disc became a little harder to move, with a bit of resistance. Almost as if whatever should have been turning before has now locked onto the movement.

Reconnected the cable and the missus is now very happy :)

Thanks again for the time and advice, anchorman. I owe you

[anchorman]

Blimey!

Never seen a "yes" like that one! Glad your sorted.