Broken fan selector dial

[BBB Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BBB]

Not sure whether I have called this by the right name but my left hand fan ventilation selector dial on the centre dash panel is spinning freely without selecting any of the windscreen, frontal or footwell vent positions. I guess the mechanical selector linkage is broken and will require removing the centre dash to fix? Has anyone had this problem and can tell me how they fixed it? I have had a brief look but can't see any screws attaching the centre dash fascia? Is it all plastic clip retained? Will I risk breaking these if I remove the fascia? Suggestions…?

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Can't help with main problem but pulling the centre dash apart is fairly straight forward. It's all just clipped in place, if you start by gently removing the silver trim panels on either side by levering them out gently. I use a plastic spatula for this, once you get those out you will see how the clips work and it's just a case of continuing to unclip most of it.

If you search around for UHF or radio / GPS installs you should find some detailed instructions on how to do it.

Cheers Andrew

[foxclan Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close foxclan]

Andrew is on the money! I encountered these dials recently when installing a new stereo. Our demist position would not hold on the spot. While the dash was out I sprayed some easy glide silicone spray down the wires and also cable tied them together so they would push the cable against the outer sheath more positively. Happy now with the way they operate and hold on the setting that one has dialed.
Regards
Troy

[foxclan Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close foxclan]

Andrew is on the money! I encountered these dials recently when installing a new stereo. Our demist position would not hold on the spot. While the dash was out I sprayed some easy glide silicone spray down the wires and also cable tied them together so they would push the cable against the outer sheath more positively. Happy now with the way they operate and hold on the setting that one has dialed.
Regards
Troy

[BBB Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BBB]

Thanks Troy and Andrew.
I finally got around today to pulling off the dash (as I've also recently been having problems with the ac cutting on and off and thought it might be the ac switch - but that's in another post...) and found the cause of the fan selector dial not turning properly. It was not a case of needing spray lubricant as suggested here. Actually it appears that there is a white "pylon" (for lack of a better term) anchor through which the sheath and plastic end fitting of the cable should be attached to without moving so the cable can move back and forth freely inside. This was not working properly...the whole cable and sheath together was popping in and out of the pylon attachment simply flexing up and down when the selector dial was turned.
I believe there should be some sort of a plastic clip that should slide into the white pylon to hold this plastic end fitting into the pylon which in my case was missing. I make this assumption by looking at the similar arrangement behind the RHS temp dial which appears to have this clip in place. Because this clip was missing the whole sheath and plastic end fitting was popping out of the pylon thus not allowing the cable to move freely inside its sheath. Kind of hard to visualize without seeing how the whole thing is supposed to work. I am suspecting when I had a new radio/CD player installed under warranty that this clip was left out by the installers?
It would be good to see an exploded diagram of the back of the fan selector dial to confirm this theory. Does anybody know where I might access this sort of information? I guess I'll have to pop down to the local Toyota service centre and see what shows up on their diagrams.
Cheers
Bryan

[foxclan Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close foxclan]

Bryan
You could try www.Toyodiy.com this is a parts web site that shows diagrams of the vehicles construction.
This site can be quite helpful to find the location of items or the way they go together.
Cheers
Troy

[BBB Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BBB]

THanks Troy .... thats a very useful link. Unfortunately detail was not clear concerning my problem so will still need to go in to Toyota.
Cheers
Bryan