[JAW]

Originally Posted by DarrylR

I just purchased a new '04 4Runner, and after 600 miles, the heater/ac fan intermittently refuses to turn on. Although the dash indicators say the fan is on, the fan motor isn't turning, and no air is emitted from the vents. This happens whether I use Auto or Manual climate control. It typically happens when I first start the car in the morning (it's not garaged, and is only partially protected from the elements on the side that faces my house). Once I've driven the car for a while, stopped, turned off the ignition, gotten out of the car, returned to the car (after running an errand of variable length), and turned the heat back on, the fan works fine.

The past few mornings haven't even been that cold (~25 F with overnight temperatures probably in the teens), but my gut tells me that it's got something to do with engine temperature. It worked throughout the recent East-coast cold snap, so I'm surprised that it's acting up now.

Any idea when that Toyota cold-weather engineer will have a fix? Any word of a recall?

Thanks,
Darryl R.

My dealer says Toyota is anxious to get my fan out so they can run some tests. The fan is being replaced on warrantee of course. It hasn't happened to my vehicle now for a month and the other morning, and I am not exagerating, it was -40 F and I forgot to plug in. Truck started and the fan worked no problem so I don't know what is going on with this fan, it has been working fine. I am still going to get it replaced though, I don't want to take the chance of it not working again. The phenomenon maybe to sporadic and infrequent to warrent a recall. Interesting that you have 4Runner though, apparently 4runners have been having this problem more frequently.