Putting A/C into a non A/C 03 Tacoma

Hi, so I have a 2003 Toyota Tacoma Prerunner 2.7L L4 and it’s an awesome truck and I love everything about it. However, after living without A/C for almost a year I can say it is an essential especially with fabric and not leather seats.

Particularly, I believe the previous owner actually had ac in the truck but parted it out. I will post pictures of the plugs and adapters that are still in the engine bay for the air conditioning (I believe)

My question is, how much would it be to reinstall ac into my truck and are there any kits out there that I could buy specifically for my truck since it’s already prepared for ac/ has already had ac?

Any suggestions would be great, thanks.

 

The hardest part is definitely installing the evaporator core because the dashboard will have to come out; My uncle installed A/C in a non-A/C 1991 Toyota pickup relatively easily, but I don’t know how hard it would be in a Taco…

 

1st gens don't require dash removal to access the evaporator, it's in a sub assembly separate from the main HVAC housing you just have to take some trim and metal brackets out behind the glove box to get it out.
That being said I'm not sure what differences there are in A/C vs non A/C Tacos as I've never seen one without factory A/C.

 

Sounds like the truck did have AC and the previous owner removed it.
I just removed mine recently. Everything under the hood got removed.

 

Is there an A/C button on the HVAC controls?

 

if all else fails buy an ac and a generator

 

If the truck already had AC installed it makes it that much easier. Post some pics of the engine bay and the climate control.

 

yup, you gotta do what you gotta do

 

No I know what your talking about too and I’ve seen it. The spot it just hard plastic, no button but as said where the compressor usually goes beside the wiper motor it’s still there.

 

I have pictures here. You can see that I have pictures of under the glove box and it looks like there’s brackets there with nothing attached. The panel also had the recirculating button which I believe is for ac aswell. Fuse box even has a fuse for the ac 10A so there are clear signs that it did have ac. The empty bracket by the abs system looks like where the condenser would have gone too. Anyway take a look and let me know, thanks.

 

I can't make out the A/C line ports on the firewall. Are they there? Blank A/C button indicates it didn't have it factory.

 

I believe the previous owner would have removed it when he got rid of the ac not sure though. Not sure what those are if I’m being honest. Could you explain?

 

Actually scratch that. I see where they would go in this picture, below the ECU connector. Your truck never had A/C, where the lines would enter the cab are plugged.



This is what a truck with A/C would look like:

 

That being said you still could add factory A/C. All the provisions are there in the firewall and electrical (possibly), probably just need all the lines, evap, drier, condenser, compressor, etc. I've seen it done before.

Here is a good resource to see how it's put togtether:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/1st-gen-a-c-system-replacement-how-to-seized-compressor.293204/

 

I see. So what are the two unplugged-plugs for then and the employ bracket for?

 

90% sure that's for the Cruise Control actuator.

 

Funny cause I have a cruse control switch on the steering wheel but I haven’t tried it out yet.

 

That's something easy you can hook up. Buy the actuator, and the computer that sits behind the passenger kick panel.

 

So pretty much I can’t have ac unless I spend 1500 or more Canadian to get all the parts and labour. Damn.