03-4Runner heater problem

[Walter]

Heater fan does not come on. After about an hour and after turning on and off the car the heater fan automatically did finally operate. Anyone out there having a similar problem?

[EDGE]

Was it sitting out in the cold, maybe it was a glitch I had a similar problem on a 96 Pathfinder that was a year old, the AC would not turn on left it in the sun and it was fine, happen twice and never again, maybe the heat sensor was getting a faulty reading

If it happens again or just in case take it and have them check it

[khaug]

In cold weather when operating in the "Auto" mode, our '03 will leave the fan off for several minutes after startup. Then as the coolant temp begins to rise, it will turn the fan on to low, then medium, then high speed. As the interior warms up, the fan speed will gradually diminish and end up back at low. You should be able to override this behavior by deselecting "Auto" or by pushing a button on the fan speed control.

This process takes a fairly considerable amount of time, perhaps as long as 20 minutes. In addition to fiddling with the fan speed, the system will start out directing all the air to the footwells and then finally add in the dash vents when everything's nice and cozy. On occasion, I've also seen it select "Defrost" on its own.

IMHO, this is a very sophisticated system which performs much better than the auto climate control on our 2000 BMW 528. I can hardly wait to find out what surprises it has waiting for me in hot weather!

-Karl

[Walter]

Thanks, You have described exactly the process of the heater and how it operates especially during the current extreme temperatures (4 degrees this morning)
My other vehicle is a 93 4Runner and I am not yet at all familar with this new automatic system which thinks for me.

[wilmajane]

I also had heater problems. System would only crank out cold air or hot air. There was no middle mix. The auto system would only function properly when the vehicle was cold and as soon as it truck warmed up it would switch to high fan and hot. Dealer serviced heater and found that interior temp probe was not located properly and wanted to know if I had the vehicle modified or any service done. The runner only had 1200 miles on it and had done this since delivery. They fixed the problem and heater functions flawlessly now.

[TEFye]

Works great for me most of the time in Auto Mode, but I occasionally switch to manual. Today it was cold outside, but sunny. The sun coming in the windows must have confused it & it started blowing luke warm air out the AC ducts, but my feet were cold. Went to manual on the feet, low on the fan & bumped the temp up 2 degrees. Then I was comfortable.

[ktrem10563]

anyone who has heating problems with their truck,have you gotten any special treatment from your dealership

[Wade1]

The problem I have is heat only comes from the left side of the vehicle. Regardless of temperature setting or where the air is going (ie. defog, feet, vents etc.) there is cold air on the right side.

[hon-da-riferous]

I have had similar issues (2004 4runner Sport V6) but have not been able to diagnose any consistencies. Fans turn on/off and speed changes randomly even in the non-auto modes. recently the light behind the fan control went out. on my previous SR5 pickups i had to replace the "fan control switch" (looked like a ceramic tuning fork) but that only let the fan run in low speed no matter what the switch did. anyone have replaced the light bulb yet? how difficult is this?