Toyota service center said it would be $1300+ to fix my heater

So here’s what’s going on. My 2013 Tacoma off road heater/AC stopped working a couple weeks ago. I thought it was due to the heater resistor or blower, so I went out and bought those parts and tried to replace it all myself. After that didn’t work, I said I might as well just go to Toyota and see if they can figure out what’s going on. After waiting all day yesterday for Toyota to figure it out, they finally call and tell me the reason my heater/AC stopped working is because of a technical issue with my heater control assembly. And said it would be $1300+ to fix it. I was shocked. And this is after I had to spend $250 on a “diagnosis” all for them to just figure out what the problem was. I asked them to give me the part number for the heater/ac controller that they said needs to be replaced, and it’s 55900-04070. I found it new on a couple of Toyota part sites for a little more than $500. I checked eBay and found ones for under a $100 that are salvaged from totaled Tacoma’s.

So my question is, has anyone had this problem before. And if so, how did they go about fixing it. I am NOT going to spend the amount of money that Toyota quoted me. That is unreasonable just to fix a heater/AC.

 

A Toyota dealership quoted me $2800 for a faulty A/C system, hoses, condenser and so on. Took to an Indy who specializes in heating & A/C and fixed it for $1200. Shop around.....

 

Can always remove the entire dash yourself

 

I've read of this problem before on TW.

I've also read of the heater control's plug being burnt.

Once when I was driving on a nasty hard pack dirt road in Tijuana my A/C started changing speeds on its own but I haven't had the problem since.

 

Yup. Sounds like the dash has to be removed. May be cheaper to install seat heaters.

 

As I have said before, Toyota built a truck around an a/c and named it “Tacoma” -

To fix the a/c the dash has to come out - a royal pain in the ass - I paid 1200 to have the dealer fix mine on my ‘13.

 

The 55900-04070 control assembly is the panel with the knobs. No need to pull the dash apart to replace that. See attached pdf for how to test yours.