2000 Taco low air flow strange situation...

The center vents in the dash of my truck blow out SOME air but very little compared to each of the vents on either end of the dash.

Now for the strange(r) part. Are you ready??

I removed the instrument panel that contains the two center ducts. The vents on the panel appear to fit directly into the ductwork behind the dash. Once I had the instrument panel off, I turned the blower on high and WITH THE INSTRUMENT PANEL OFF AND LYING IN THE FLOOR BOARD, AIR FLOW BLOWS OUT AS HARD AS THE END VENTS.

However, when I put the instrument panel back on, it goes back to blowing a LITTLE bit ...but not much. End vents are unaffected.

Obviously, there is nothing in the vents preventing airflow other than the vents themselves. All clear front/back.

No drugs/drinking today so far and I realize how crazy this sounds but it is what it is.

A bit of history. I did have the instrument panel off a few months back to replace the light bulbs in the ac/heater display so I could see them at night. I replaced the instrument panel because it had a small crack in it. Got it directly from Toyota dealer here locally.

I did compare both the old and the new panels and they look pretty much identical.

The new cover appears to fit perfectly and looks great but only a low volume of air coming out those center vents.

Don't think it matters in this particular situation but all cables seem to be working properly. Moving the lever toward heat does make it a tad warmer. I can hear doors opening/closing in the duct work etc.

The last thing I'll mention is that the temperature of the heater is not correct best I can tell. It does get warmer when I move the temp over to heat but doesn't get hot. Flushed out cooling system but no change. There is the smell of coolant under the hood but not in the cab. No obvious leaks on the ground and water level is full in radiator/overflow over a period of a week. I'll take a look into this later but at the moment, one disaster at a time!

I only mention it just in case it has something to do with my current problem.

I'll accept ANY explanation including references to little green Men.

Or maybe I need to get into "recreational" mode... so this will make more sense.

Hit me up if you have any thoughts!

 

You Positive your not Drunk?

 

I wish. At least in that case, there might be a possible explanation.

I did get this resolved a few minutes ago.

I took the old instrument cluster panel that I had replaced months ago and installed it back on my truck. Problem solved. To me, that had to mean the vent ductwork wasn't matching up with the ductwork on the truck. Fortunately, the vent duct can be removed so I removed the vent ducts from both instrument panels and put my original vent duct on the newer instrument panel. All is now good. Genuine OEM Toyota part straight from the dealer locally but something wrong with the ductwork that came with my panel.

Don't know if this is a one-off thing or .....

I did notice a few others on here that stated they had a similar problem but few commented on what they did to fit it.

If you have this problem, maybe your instrument panel has been replaced from the one that originally came with the truck and maybe you could try hitting up a wrecking yard to try and find a original OEM that has not been replaced.

Now on to the heating and invisible water leak problem.

 

Boy am I glad to know that got sorted out.

Is the in and out heater hoses going into the firewall to the heater core both hot? Do you have a heater core leak? Or, maybe the little door flap for the heater in the duct work isn’t moving when it should? Idk

 

YOU ARE NOT CRAZY!!!

i just started down this path today. My truck used to blow fine and then I removed the front face/vents/ idk what to call it but I took the big piece off so I can look at the AC control cables on my 98 and saw that the one that controls the little valve under the hood is froze (so need to replace that too) but when I put the face back on it won’t blow nearly anything compared to the outter air vents. I thought that it was just a misaligned vent but no, there’s no way, I flashed a light to make sure it was straight, what the hell is going on?!

 

And the center vents DID BLOW STRONG before you removed the cover, right? But when you put the cover back into place, the center vents don't blow very strong. Only the vents on either end blow strong. Correct?

 

YES!! Exactly like that! Idk what’s going on, I thought maybe I didn’t align something right with the ducting but hell no there’s no way to mess it up, something wild is going on

 

Your situation and mine appear to be similar but have a different solution.

I was replacing the panel you removed with a new one (OEM from Toyota) and ran into this problem. As you said, it was fairly mind boggling. After much time, I removed the air ducts themselves from the panel(s) and put the OLD air ducts on the NEW panel and the issue is gone. I don't think you have two panels so you likely don't have this option.

I just went out to my truck and checked the air flow coming out of the center ducts and it is (almost) as good as the flow coming out of the end ducts. Not quite as good but close enough. You can see this in my remarks above. I did find a few others on this forum that had similar problems but don't know if they got them fixed or not as the OP never replied back if they fixed it or learned to live with it.

Not good to see that you're having this problem but I think a few people on here thought I had lost my mind initially so maybe it's contagious.

If you pull the plastic cover back off and run the blower with the cover off, is the air flow coming out of the center vent match up to what is coming out of the end vents on either end?? Mind did that which led me to swap out the vents from the old cover to the new....

 

I'm a visual person and can't figure out what the heck yall are talking about with flaps and covers and such, but air isn't coming out of the defrost vent is it?

 

We talking about the center AC vents right above the control knobs. If I take that whole black assembly off like I’m gonna mess with the radio the flow coming out that center Chanel is fine but as soon as I put it back the flow is nonexistent

 

@TheDamaso Is this the black assembly you’re talking about?
You take this off and get good airflow?

 

I'm having the same problem. Has anyone found a fix or why? I haven't replaced anything except the radio.

 

Ohh man, been a minute. My tacoma has been sitting in the garage this whole time lol guessing no one found a solve in a whole year?

 

This is about the funniest bunch of guys I have ever come across!! I get a blast just reading their comments. Keep going!