Recirc won't stay on '07 Camry

Since I bought my "07 Camry, when I push the recirc button to prevent outside air from flowing into the cabin, it will go off after awhile and outside air starts to come through. I took it in while it was under warranty but the first time they told me they didn't have anyone at the Toyota agency that day who could work on electronics. I took it back again and they couldn't figure out the source of the problem. It's an intermittent problem so I understand the difficulty for them to track it down, but since they couldn't figure it out, I was surprised they didn't offer to replace the unit since the car was under warranty. My own fault for not pushing it. I just took the car in to have a couple recall items fixed and asked that they try again, but they couldn't identify the source of the problem. Instead, they recommend I go on a road test with them. But the problem may not occur for 25, or 50 or who knows how many miles. And even if it did, what would that tell them? I think they just need confirmation it really does occur. I can understand that they may not just simply trust my word so I'm wondering if anyone else out there has the same problem. Perhaps it goes on far more often than anyone knows, although if that was the case I would assume they would have had the answer and a solution in my case.

Don

Reply to
dsarvas
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How are the vents directed while you're waiting to see if recirculate changes its setting? Any chance you're cycling the control through the defrost position? I'm asking because in my 04 Tacoma, recirculate is DEactivated when I switch to defrost. I can REactivate it once the control is on defrost, but the default is for the car to DEactivate that feature because it's a good idea.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

The workings of the Recirc function is one that confuses the hell out of me. I have an 08 Avalon and for a while thought that the Recirc system had a mind of it's own. One of the things that I finally figured out (at least in my car) was that it is tied to the outside air temp and the temp setting of the heating/AC system. Try this experiment--vary the heat temperature setting and watch the Recirc light--at some point it will go from Off to On and visa versa as you move the setting up and down. Let us know how it works out. MLD

Reply to
MLD

I rarely use the defrost setting since I live in Southern California. However, there are those cold days when I do. As I recall, it's not always a partciularly cold day that this occurs, but I can't be certain. Maybe I start out on a cold morning and leave it in the defrost position. However, that's rare. I usually run it for only a minute or two with the heat turned up to the max just to defrost the windows and turn it back to having the vents flowing from the floor or floor/dash. But I'll keep this in mind and I'll be more aware in the future what the settings are at the time this occurs or even what the settings may have been earlier in that particular drive. I'll also try leaving it in the defrost mode next time I drive to see what happens. Thanks.

Reply to
dsarvas

I wasn't aware the temp control alone would affect the recirc setting. I'll give that a try. I do adjust the control at times, but the problem occurs even after I haven't touched any part of the A/C for awhile. But I'll try the experiment in case I have the temp control right at point where it might be close the trigger point as you mention. If that's the case, maybe it's simply the vibration or a bump in the road that sets it off. Thanks.

Reply to
dsarvas

Does the manual shed any light on the patterns by which the recirc button works for your car? The feature exists for use in unusual situations which you notice at the moment you need it, but generally, that situation won't exist at the exact moment you get in your car next time. For instance, you might want to use recirculate if you end up behind a vehicle that's spewing really bad exhaust. That generally will NOT be the situation next time you start the car.

Because there are climates where using recirc ALL the time is a lousy idea, it might be set up (in your car) to deactivate next time the car is started. That's how it SHOULD be.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

Driving to work yesterday I turned the setting to defrost and sure enough the recirc turned off. But that wasn't the problem since the recirc turns off intermittently even when the defrost is not on - or at least I'm 99% sure it isn't.

Whenver the recirc turns off, it's always well into my drive. I drive about 25 miles to work and it occurs maybe half way to work. And it will happen after driving all that distance without ever touching the unit at all.

I'll take a look at the manual.

Don

Reply to
dsarvas

Tried that experiment, but turning the temperature setting from one extreme to the other had no effect on the recirc setting. But I only tried it with the recirc turned on. Just reread your message and you suggested trying it while recirc is off. I'll try that, but it looks like the temp control isn't affecting the recirc.

As long as the temperature control doesn't affect the accelerator, I an live with it. :)

Don

Reply to
dsarvas

I'm guessing the manual will say that there's a timer involved, based on your "maybe half way to work" comment. Please report back with your findings.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

One other factor is the inside air temperature--between all of these various inputs--outside and inside air temperatures and the temperature setting-- there are some combinations that will turn the recirc OFF & ON as the temp setting is moved up and down. Perhaps your current climate makes it a wash (doesn't want the recirc off (or on) but when the OAT is cold and or mid-range I've made the Recirc light go OFF & On about a specific Temperature setting. Tried asking at the Dealer a while back and got a blank stare. How about this one---dash lights vary from dark to light seemingly at random. Found someone at the dealer who could finally solve this mystery--With headlights in the ON position and the dimmer switch below the max setting, the dash lights will go from bright to dark as the car moves through something like a tunnel or under a large bridge span. Didn't know it but there is a light sensor on the dash very close to the windshield. MLD

Reply to
MLD

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com schrieb:

The design of recirculation is avoidance of pollution from outside eg in a tunnel or at a stop. Since the inner of the car is hermetically sealed the CO2 inside is low enough for four persons for at most a quarter of hour to avoid selfintoxication. So for saving your life the automatic stops and gives you fresh oxygen after five minutes. Should be written about in the instruction booklet.

Reply to
Roland Franzius

In news:alt.autos.toyota.camry, Roland Franzius posted on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:28:10 +0200 the following:

Where did you read that the Camry is hermetically sealed? I certainly beg to differ. When I'm driving along (2007 Camry) and see smoke blowing across the road from someone's leaf burning, I immediately switch to recirculate. There have even been times when I was already on recirculate before ever seeing the smoke. In either type of instance, I would always smell the smoke when driving through it. If the car was hermetically sealed, I wouldn't be able to smell anything that's outside the car. Granted, I can tell the difference between recirculate and normal with regard to the swiftness of invading odors, but recirculate is definitely not airtight. And the so-called cabin filter is a joke. It doesn't filter anything. If I get behind someone driving a diesel, the filter does nothing to stop the offending odor. I'm often left gagging for fresh air as I try to wonder if I'm going to be poisoned before I can flush the cabin with cleaner air than what was farted out of the tailpipes in front of me.

Damaeus

Reply to
Damaeus

Most vehicles are not hermetically sealed. If they were, you'd feel your ears pop every time you sat inside and closed the door, and all of the windows would have to be inoperable to form a hermetic seal.

The cabin filter is a fiber filter and is designed to filter dust and debris, not odors. I have seen some aftermarket filters that have charcoal to absorb some odors. Even a charcoal filter is not 100% effective because the air would have to linger long enough for the charcoal to absorb the odors, and vehicle movement and the HVAC fan moves the air past the filter too quickly.

You can reduce the intake of diesel fumes into the cabin by staying several car lengths behind the source of the diesel fumes so that the exhaust from the vehicle in front of you does not immediately hit the base of your windshield, where the vehicle's cabin air intake is located. Allowing the fumes to dissipate a little before they reach the cabin air intake helps.

Some Lexus models have some kind of sensor for the cabin air intake system that automatically switches the system to recirc mode when it starts to suck in fumes, and the cabin air filter uses charcoal to absorb some of the odor. The downside to the system is that the filters are something like $75 to replace.

Reply to
Ray O

Ray O schrieb:

For the purpose of air exchange, cars have an controllable intake and an outlet, mostly open or often sealed loosely with a flap cover against noise.

If you close the intake and all windows are shut you dont get rid of the the CO2 produced by passengers because the one open outlet makes no air flow.

The car has an air volume around a cubic meter. With each breath each person pollutes perhaps 1/1000 of it. After 500 breaths ore some minutes you have half of the concentration of CO2 in the outgoing air from the lungs.

Now headache starts because of a to low oxygen concentration in your blood. It cant get rid of CO2 because the external CO2 density is to high (5% is deadly).

From these rough figures you may calculate the maximal lifetime for people transported in closed standard containers.

Reply to
Roland Franzius

My '06 Sonata has this feature as part of the automatic AC system. Hopefully, the Hyundai filter will be cheaper than a Lexus filter. In a perfect world, it should be about $25 installed. :-)

Reply to
dsi1

In news:alt.autos.toyota.camry, "Ray O" posted on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 10:52:57

-0500 the following:

Well, yeah. If I roll the windows up at highway speeds, I put the air conditioner on recirculate first or my ears will feel the pressure hit them. Mine is a Camry LE. My friend's/roommate's is a Camry SE. If I don't crack the windows before closing the doors in his car, it hurts my ears; I don't get that effect in my car.

It filters out rat nests and hair, too. One got into mine and built a nest right up against the cabin filter. I'm just glad he didn't stay in there and die. I'm also glad bits of his nest and poo poo pellets didn't come flying through the vents and into my face.

I can hear the horns blowing at me now as I do that in city traffic at a red light. That's what I was envisioning. As for highways, I leave more than just "six car lengths per ten miles an hour of speed" when I'm behind anyone unless I want to pass them.

They want $50 to replace the Toyota ones unless you do it yourself. I wonder if the carbon filter one will fit a Toyota if it's made for a Lexus version of a Camry. I don't know what the Lexus version is called.

Damaeus

Reply to
Damaeus

Camrys are sealed fairly well, but they are not hermetically sealed. The purpose of the gaskets on the doors is to reduce wind noise.

The smaller the cabin, the greater the ear popping effect.

I've seen stuff come out of many customers' vents due to rodent nests - not very pleasant. I've heard of rodent offspring getting chewed up by the heater fan, which sprays the stuff all over the inside of the fan housing, making for a pretty smelly system.

I prefer not to travel behind big trucks and buses because the dual rear wheels tend to kick up some pretty big pieces of road debris, so I just hang back and let people pass me or I pass the truck. A side benefit is not having to feal with the fumes.

I checked to see if Toyota dealers stocked the cabin filters for a 2001 Lexus LS, but they did not. I never compared the cabin filter from the Lexus with one from a Toyota, and I haven't found any aftermarket cabin filters at auto parts stores yet so I just stick with the cabin filters from the Lexus dealership. I think my 2004 LS has 6 interior filters - front cabin filter with charcoal, rear cabin filter with charcoal, and a small filter for each ventilated seat, which appears to be just a paper/fiber filter.

Reply to
Ray O

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