Air vent control

The problem should be due to a stuck or faulty air outlet servomotor or its linkages, located behind right center of dash, on blower motor housing.

Here is a guide that will help you get an idea on what you are in for:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/replace-blend-door-motor

Here are some diagrams that show the location of the servomotor:

I cannot thank you enough for your response and the diagram. You are the first to hit the nail on the head! Now to tackle this challenge do I need to replace this part or parts/pieces to this part? Is it best to remove the dash to get to it?

You need not remove the dash to get to the part and whether it requires replacement depends on what is wrong. Here are the procedures for testing:


Air outlet servomotor:
Unplug 7-pin air outlet servomotor connector. Apply battery voltage to terminal No. 6. Connect terminal No. 7 to ground. See Fig. 1 . Connect the specified terminal to ground. See Testing air outlet servomotor table. Arm should rotate smoothly to correct position. If operation is not as specified, replace servomotor.

Looks like I need to replace the servomotor. So now where can I get one? Thanks again!

Check with your local parts outlets. The junk yard is another option. Last place would be the dealer.

I just fixed this issue on my 1998 Camry XLE four cylinder by cleaning the *inside* of the servomotor with denatured alcohol. The contacts were in good shape and the motor spun fine when twelve volts was applied. The contacts had built up carbon and grease over time and were not making contact.
I have seen conflicting information online whether this part was mechanical, vacuum or electrical. It was electrical. Also conflicting information on where the part was. I tore out a lot of the passenger side of the dash and could not find it.
The air outlet servomotor is *not* on the blower motor housing as mentioned above. The mechanical fresh/recirculate selector is above the blower motor however the air outlet servomotor is physically on the drivers side many inches above the accelerator. Look for a round white plastic piece about three inches in diameter. Pop that off (has a retaining clip in center), then remove the servomotor (three screws).
OEM part number 87106-06060 or 8710606060.
Printed part number on part: AW063700-6211
Toyota dealer MSRP is $180.00, refurbished on eBay was $75.00 shipped, Amazon did not appear to have it and my local O'Reilly looked up the part and they did not carry any version of it (there or in a warehouse). So I tried to fix it and for now it works again, at 213,000 miles, yay.

I just spent the afternoon fixing this on my 1999 Camry four cylinder. The above procedure from Gf39gg2j worked great! I never would have thought of trying to repair the actual electric motor, but it worked. I opened the back of the motor by bending open the metal tabs on case with needle nose pliers, then cleaned just the contacts with alcohol and a Q-tip, without removing the whole armature. I also had to work on (sandpaper) the plastic bushings in the servo gear box to loosen up the binding gears, and cleaned the contacts on the underside of the large gear. Be careful when opening the servo motor/gear box as several of the plastic retainer clips broke on mine. I also broke the retainer clip in the center of the white plastic plate with track groves (acts as a guide for the air door levers), but it seems to staying in place without the clip.
Now, where is the ibuprofen for my contorted back and neck?

This is great information but I did not get the same positive results. I cleaned mine up but still not getting any movement. I hope I did not reassemble it incorrectly but it is pretty simple so I doubt it.

Any other ideas on what to try? Is there a fuse that may have blown? I would hate to spent $75.00 on a refurbished servomotor to find it was only a fuse.

Well sadly my fix only lasted a few months, it is broken again. I will take it out and clean it up once more but if it stops moving again, time to toss it in the bin and get a new one.
Jra1122, I am glad it worked for you, and I hope it stays fixed!

Just completed this job. Yea and it was a beast at times. Removed under steering column panel and metal support. Removed center console around shifter/radio(may not be necessary to some people but im a big guy)
Removed drivers seat cause I wanted to, qty4 14mm bolts and one electrical wire. The air mode servo is on the side of heater box up over half way. Its has a 7-pin connector, remove the cam gear(shaft has a tiny notch and white gear has a little clip to bent back to release from shaft, use a tiny flat head and pull while prying this tab) You are likely to damage this piece, be easy .Remove 3 holding screws only and wiggle it out of area(sometimes it seems stuck on pivoting arms so may have to remove bottom one only, top arm is ok to stay there. If you happen to remove both pivoting arms by mistake, the smaller one in size goes to top area, when arms are in place the guiding pins should be 180degress away from each other, thats how you know the gear on the motor shaft will go properly into the guiding grooves. BTW if you have to buy this part new from dealer its expensive and comes with servo motor only so be aware of this. I paid $160 thru Boch Toyota South. A local dealer to me wanted $230 so be wise and shop around. I prefer to get new rather than rebuild given the pain involved in changing this part. Also you should test the unit by plugging it in and turning on ignition and dialing in different positions to see motor shaft is actually moving. If not its electrically bad(unit or circuit). I opened up my bad one and discovered that gearing was issue(binding up on first gear set that engages to motor worm gear). Good luck with this job and get ready for scratched arms under there.

Thanks for the great feedback.

Update: Still working!
It has been over nine hundred days since I cleaned the blend door actuator contacts and it is still working. Have gone from 213,000 to 256,000 on the mileage in that time. Now to fix these oil leaks and front axle CV-joint! Added a picture to this post, maybe it will help somebody.

Great addition to this thread! Please feel free to help out whenever you are on the site. :)

Cheers, Ken

My air vent selector stopped working a few days ago. I know it has something to do with the servomotor because I remember hearing it before but nothing now. There was another post from a person that removed his and cleaned the gears and contacts and fixed it. I tried that with no joy.

Before I buy a new referb servomotor for ~$75 is there something else I should check? I would think there would be fuse protection but cannot find anything about it online.

Thanks for your help!

If you can't locate the fuse, check to see if the servo is getting power. NO POWER = Bad fuse. If there is power and the servo isn't responding, it is most likely bad.

There's a dead animal stuck in the air vent of my camry. I know it sounds funny, but it stinks like hell! How do I gert it out?

Not unusual in the south. Fortunately you have an air filter behind the glove box. Unhook the two glove box fasteners and you will access the air filter. Remove it and take out Mr. Mouse. I would replace the air filter and give the area a good spray with Lysol. Make sure Mr. Mouse gets a good funeral and proper resting place.

The air doesnt flow through the upper cabin vents - the ones that blow at you - or the defroster vent. I can hear the switch switch the vents and I removed the blower and it works fine and quietly but was full of dust which I removed. I'm guessing there's 300K of dust in the vents. I started to take the dash apart but didn;t go far enough to get to those vents. Wanted to check first for best way to go. Wondering if there's anything besides disassembilng the dash to get to vents and clear them.

check to see if item in pic is working it may be cable operated or electric.

Will do - thank you...

All the vents in the car no longer work, and the back window defrost button no longer works, and the temprature gauge no longer works, either. How do I fix this?

If the blower fan is not working, it could be a faulty fan motor which would have to be replaced to rectify.

The temperature gauge could be due to a dislodged sending unit wire, faulty gauge or wiring.

Okay, thank you. I know it's the vents that aren't working, I don't know if they are the same thing as the blower fan...(I honestly didn't know what topic and sub topic to put my problem under...). Thank you!

Do you hear the fan blowing?

I hear something when they're on, and on one of the vents, the driver's side, I feel a tiny bit of air coming out...

If the fan motor is working, at high speed the noise should be quite loud. If air is not getting to the vents, it could be due to a bad motor fan blades. You would need to remove the motor to check. The other possibility is clogging or leaking. If air is blowing hard under dash, it is due to a leak in the system.

Underdash there are some cables from the vent control panel. Ensurs all cables are attached correctly and moves when the vents lever is moved to change position.

Okay, but I'm wondering about something...the circulation of where you get your air from either the outside or inside...do you know what I'm talking about? I don't know the proper name for it...anyway, it's hard to move from saying the air is going to come from outside verses inside...it's like something is in the part where it is to move, where you drag the thing from one position to the other...would that have something to do with it?

That is the fresh air control.

IT switches between fresh and recirculating air. It would not affect the amount of air blowing.

Toyota Camry LE V6 1993 Mileage=98,000. The dashboard rotary knob to control where the air comes out in the cabin no longer controls anything. The air comes out the defrost vents up at the windshield regardless of the knob position. I assume it is supposed to control some kind of baffle down in the ducting, but have no idea how to access it, or even if it is electric or vacuum driven. Where do I start and what am I looking for?
Thanks,
wiz

Toyota uses no vacuum controls. You probabley have a bad temp controller or a bad a/c controller.

Give me a little more info on the rest of the controls and if the temp is in one position. They doors are driven by a small electric motor.

Let me know

losone

Iosone:
It doesn't matter where the temp rotary is set. If it's set warm, warm comes out. The A/C even works (with the pushbutton control on). It just ALL comes out the little defroster vents up at the windshield. The knob that should control this is not stuck, it moves to the various positions, but nothing changes. Where is the small electric motor located?
Thanks,
wiz

Sorry for the bump but i was reading through the thread and having similar issues but not quite.

If it helps, I have a 1998 Toyota Camry XLE V6 with 156,768 miles on it. I checked the fuses that are related to the A/C system but none were blown or loose from their housing. Though, i did not check the instrument panel fuse '7.5A' due to how tight the space is and how goofy my hands are.

The AC/ works and so does the heater. Air flows on low to high with no issues or noises present (just the roar of the fans when on medium high and high).

Usually when I use the vent selector knob, i feel resistance when trying to turn the knob. I hear a 'fwoop' noise from the vents and then the air starts flowing from the vents i selected.

Now there is no resistance in the knob and the vent control is stuck to windows.

Punching and yelling at it didn't work so I don't know if it's the servo motor as mentioned or if its the actual selector part.

yep, I tried that too, lol. Does not work. Can you please shoot a quick video with your phone so we can see what's going on? that would be great. You can upload it here with your response. It sounds like either the HVAC control head is broken or the blend door actuator is out. Check out the diagrams (below). Please let us know what you find. We are interested to see what it is.