Defrost without A/C mod

But the whole idea is to still have ALL of your stock settings and a working defrost when needed. Then have the added benefit of one more useful setting(this mod).

 

My 96 will defrost without the ac...poorly. the ac dries the air so it work 10 million times better...

 

Are you saying u did this mod?

Still trying to figure out if this only applies to the 01-04's?

 

No my control head allows me to turn on my compressor manually from the factory.

 

my 99 has 2 defrost position settings and both turn on air recirculation at the same time so it looks and works a little different but I didn't take it apart to see if this mod would maybe work or not.

the simple solution is to set it to defrost then remove the button and turn the stem passed that point to see what happens, that way you don't have to mod anything until you are sure it will work.

 

plus, if you are like me and don't like a fan blowing cold air on you directly, you can run the a/c through the defrost vents (or if like mine, defrost can also run through the floor vent and defrost vents at the same time) so if this mod works it can allow you to be cool without that icy air freezing your arms or whatever on long trips.

I like to be cold so im not turning the temp setting up but I hate cold air blowing in one spot all the time and my sinus goes crazy with air blowing at me

I like the idea of this mod so you can use the defrost vents anytime, I just don't think its practical to expect when you need defrost, that you can do it very efficiently without the a/c running.

I think it might be worth looking into the electrical side of the control to see if there is a way to disconnect fan power from defrost settings so there is no fan power supplied when the knob is in defrost. that way you only have a/c when you push the a/c button and you don't have to file your knob down.

 

Right...we all have the AC button we can push manually. But you do realize whether you push your AC button or not your AC IS running when on defrost setting?

Edit....just read your first post, so I guess on yours u can turn the AC off while on defrost. Since u notice the defogging properties of AC vs not. That's weird!

 

Ooh good point Keakar! I never even thought of using this option in the summer,using the AC through the defrost vents and not blowing on you!

 

The control head on my 96. My z71 can also do compressor manually as well.

 

I used to do this on my old chevy c10, I had the a/c run off a toggle switch because the truck had wiring issues so I turn the defrost on with temp set to cold and kicked on the a/c. it cooled the windshield and floor and in august if I needed more direct air I switched over to the regular vents.

I have bad sinus and wind in my face clogs me up in seconds

 

Just got done playing with mine. Yes you can hit the AC button and it will light up ans kick on BUT if I'm on defrost that button does nothing on or off(just turns on and off the light). While I'm on defrost I can hear and feel the AC cycling. Hitting the AC button does not change that while I'm on a defrost setting.

Also the fan does have to be ON for the AC to kick on while in defrost setting.(this was a question i had asked a few posts ago)

On another note this mod does NOT apply to 98-00 tacos! The switch will not go any further to the right while the knob is off!

 

for regular a/c function I think the compressor gets its power through the fan switch somehow so if the fan isn't on, then the a/c compressor wont be able to kick in, but im not sure if the a/c light will on or not if the fan switch is off (never paid much attention to it)

I still think the secret to making this mod work for any truck is to bypass the defrost power to compressor so it can only get power through the a/c button for compressor.

bry838 if you are looking to run a/c through the defroster you can do that already by just turning defrost on and it already does it for you. most people just never think about it, its just that after a while the windshield gets so cold in that spot it will start to sweat around the vent areas a little.

 

Ahh good info Keakar! Yeah it just never crossed my mind to try and run cold air through the defrost vents.

On my truck the AC button is never illuminated unless its manually pushed.

 

To date, this was the hardest modification I have done to my taco.

With that said, its the only mod I have done, so Im not sure if that actually means anything.

Took less than a minute, used a sanding disc on my Dremal, and worked like a charm. Tried it this morning, seemed to work well. No noticable RPM drop as you normally see when the defrost kicks the AC condenser on.


The additional power drain when you are at higher elevations should be very nice to not have, it can be a struggle to juggle the need for power and the need for defrost when you go over the 12k foot passes we have here.

For $0, I cant see an issue with this mod at all.

 

I love these easy little mods, I don't really have a use for this one at the moment, but the writeup is good and this should be a sticky. Same with the auxiliary/cig lighter on all the time mod which is very easy as well.

 

I didn't grind the tab off the back of the knob, I just used my Leatherman and trimmed the stop on the switch.