A/C on with defrost

That's strange. My '06 Tacoma automatically turns on the AC with the defrost on. The AC light doesn't come on but you can hear and see the compressor kick on with the defrost. You may want to double check yours, I'm willing to bet it turns on.

 

I wish that a/c was still a stand alone option. Hahaha!

 

I doubt anyone would see any measurable difference in fuel economy by modding the defrost to not engage the AC compressor.

Unless you're just constantly running around with the climate control set to defrost all the darn time.

Heck, I leave the AC on in the cold weather most of the time. If I (not in defrost) turn off the AC, I can feel and smell the warm air getting muggy. YMMV, but I like to just leave it on. People smarter than I am designed the system.

 

On my truck the AC will auto kick on when its set to feet/defrost or defrost. However, it does not run on the middle setting between feet and feet/defrost. This setting puts ~ 85% of the air to the feet, ~ 15% to windshield with no AC on. Once window is defrosted you can place the knob here to maintain a defrosted windshield with no AC on.

 

You guys have a/c ?!




Lucky

 

+1. My '05 was the same as you're describing.

 

Full left is the coldest setting. Recirc is the coldest setting.

 

If I remember right before I turned the auto ac defrost off you couldn't just push the button to turn it off. You could push the button but wouldn't do anything.

 

There is an option in the radio under the car settings - it's like "AC on with AUTO" or something like that. After changing the setting I can hit the AUTO climate button and the AC does-not automatically come on! I have not tested the defrost button with this but I would think it should work the same way...being AC in full-manual mode.

I actually found this and thought how great it was that Toyota included this feature. On my other cars, BMW, Jeep, Holden, The Auto climate control has no way to do this. If you put the climate control in Auto then the AC is controlled automatically and if you manually turn off AC then it puts the climate system back in manual mode.

I live in SoCal and I only use the AC when it gets above 85F so I pretty much never want the AC on Auto.

Note my rig has dual-zone climate control so others with the standard AC system might not have this option

 

Just when you think every pointless detail of a vehicle has been discussed. OP it has bugged me also . For 57k. The light is off but we know it's on. To be fair I'm lifted with 285 E rated and steel armor front and back w swingout and sliders( rtt on trips) . I don't keep track of the little stuff . Maybe a/c draw is not that bad and this website is chalk full of people itching to mod are a little testy about mpg loss.

 

Thanks man ! Anything I can do to squeak a little extra mpg . It's a game I play now. I'm up to 15.8mpg unloaded lol .(still love this thing though)

 

Sure:

NO AC

NO AC, ~ 25% air goes to windshield

AC on (50% windshield, 50% floor)


Now can someone explain to me how to get recirculate from turning on every time I turn the AC on.

 

Attached is what is programmable via techstream

 

Its not on max cold. If I have the truck on AC fresh air, turn it off and turn it back on it goes back to AC and recirculate! I like to keep it on fresh air because I've heard it can help prevent that musky smell AC systems sometimes get, although after reading @JaTe post it sounds like it defaults to fresh air when I turn the truck off so maybe I shouldn't worry about it

 

The reason the AC compressor comes on with defrost? Simple. To extend the life of the compressor. In colder months, the AC compressor (on any vehicle) does not get turned on often. What happens with months of no use? Seals dry out and crack. They require different material seals. But, having the compressor cycle on keeps the seals wet and happy. And that's why the compressor comes on with defrost. To keep from premature failure.

 

Same with my <previous> 01 Civic.