The B1443 code is the significant one. The solar sensor codes seem to always come up for no reason. The problem is the air damper is not moving. It could be physically blocked by something that fell into the vents, such as a pen cap, Lego brick, or other small object. If you can locate the object and remove it, it might be OK. Or it could be a bad servo motor. There have been many posts about this problem if you do a search. The bottom line is if one of the plastic gears or other fragile parts are broken, that's it. You can't buy any of those replacement parts. Toyota only sells the entire air box. In that case, maybe you can find one in a junkyard.

 

Air Box Assembly 2.4?

Thanks James, so I'm working on a worst case scenario here and I looked online for junk yards near me and found an "Air Box Assembly 2.4" for $150. Its there more to it than a mechanic removing the current Air Box and replacing it with this part?

Here is the site:
Search Results

Forgive me for my non-mechanical back ground. Other than looking down the vents with a flashlight to find the said "lego peice" or the likes, I'm not sure what/how to take apart the dash to find the lego.

Thanks again for your feedback.

 

Thanks James, so I'm working on a worst case scenario here and I looked online for junk yards near me and found an "Air Box Assembly 2.4" for $150. Its there more to it than a mechanic removing the current Air Box and replacing it with this part?

Here is the site:
Search Results

Forgive me for my non-mechanical back ground. Other than looking down the vents with a flashlight to find the said "lego peice" or the likes, I'm not sure what/how to take apart the dash to find the lego.

Thanks again for your feedback.

I clicked your link and what you found there was the air box that goes on the engine--where the engine air filter is located. My use of the term "air box" may not be technically correct--it may be called HVAC blower housing for all I know. But if you remove the glove box (not all that difficult, you should see it right there. Removing the blower would gain you access to the return air duct. You might be able to stick your hand in there and find the problem.

 

you could go the cheapest route first which is find that small servo motor that has an arm to move the vents into place. i fixed mine on my old 98 civic by taking out the motor and moving the arm back and forth to un-seize it. after that, it worked properly. if thats not it, try manually move the arm that moves the vents. if that works, the servo motor is the problem. you'll need to find that motor, or find the assembly that contains it. try to "rebuild" it first. it might just need some cleaning. how long has it been seized like that?

 

Its been only doing this for a week. Based on what I've read, it sounds like the servo motors are not that easily accessible, so manually moving the arms that move the vents might not be as easy as it was with your Civic. I'm ready/willing/able to try it, but I wouldn't know how much of the dash I would have to remove to access this. If someone thinks this is doable in the 2007 Rav4 please give me a bit of guidance as to where to start. Thanks again for the anyone that replies to this post. Cheers!

 

B1443/43 = Air Outlet Damper Control Servo Motor Circuit
- Air outlet control servo
motor
- Air conditioning harness
- Air conditioning amplifier

The attached PDF file should help you locate the Air Outlet Damper. The purpose of this particular damper is to direct airflow to the various levels (i.e. Windshield, face and feet). So the error code seems to match the description of the problem.

If you want more information you can access the shop repair manuals by looking at Junebug's profile.

 

Thank you for this post and pdf. Hopefully it will help me fix my B1443/43 code issue.

 

Broken Gear

Hi Gang, looks like we're getting closer to resolving this issue. I was about to remove the blower to inspect the area for any blockages (lego blocks, pens, toys, etc.) but while I looked around I found that the gear (in the attached photo) was broken/detached and could move freely. [Gear location is just on the left of the Cabin Filter casing, the gear is about 5" in diameter]
So, considering that if this gear is suppose to change the position of the dampers, logically this part of the problem. Unfortunately, I'm still not a mechanic and would really appreciate your advice on what to do next. Thanks again! :wink

 

So, did the gear break on its own or did some object block the door causing the motor to break the gear? You still need to take the blower out to see what's going on inside.

 

Black Gummy substance discovered

Ok, to keep this thread moving along, after we removed a few more pieces under the glove compartment area to get a better look at the situation (I found a ex-Toyota mechanic that helped me remove said pieces) we found the air flow vent (not sure the proper term for it) was sealed shut with this thick black gummy substance. He had to pry it open with a bit of force. He was able to put the disengaged gear described in an earlier post (which was warn a bit due it trying to force the door open) back on the servo motor and was making the servo motor move the gear to open different vents by pressing the HVAC dash control buttons, but wasn't sure exactly how to place the gear to align with the other threaded gears in the HVAC, so we weren't getting the air flow to the right places to match the buttons we were pressing on the HVAC dash controls. We didn't have time to go any further last night, but he referred me to another mechanic to work on this. During their phone call he said the black gummy substance that sealed the vent shut looks like "Dum Dum". Again I'm not a mechanic, but I figure those of you that are knows what he meant.
See attached photo to see the Dum Dum.
Its moving along, I hope to meet with this other mechanic next week, but as mentioned before I appreciate hearing the feed back from you folks. Thanks again for your help thus far.

 

Ok, to keep this thread moving along, after we removed a few more pieces under the glove compartment area to get a better look at the situation (I found a ex-Toyota mechanic that helped me remove said pieces) we found the air flow vent (not sure the proper term for it) was sealed shut with this thick black gummy substance. He had to pry it open with a bit of force. He was able to put the disengaged gear described in an earlier post (which was warn a bit due it trying to force the door open) back on the servo motor and was making the servo motor move the gear to open different vents by pressing the HVAC dash control buttons, but wasn't sure exactly how to place the gear to align with the other threaded gears in the HVAC, so we weren't getting the air flow to the right places to match the buttons we were pressing on the HVAC dash controls. We didn't have time to go any further last night, but he referred me to another mechanic to work on this. During their phone call he said the black gummy substance that sealed the vent shut looks like "Dum Dum". Again I'm not a mechanic, but I figure those of you that are knows what he meant.
See attached photo to see the Dum Dum.
Its moving along, I hope to meet with this other mechanic next week, but as mentioned before I appreciate hearing the feed back from you folks. Thanks again for your help thus far.

Ah yes, I remember "dum dum", a clay-like substance used as a sealer for, well just about anything. It also refers to a type of exploding bullet. Not sure why that type of sealer would be used inside the airbox, or even why it would have blocked the door. Extreme heat might have melted it?
Sounds like it might be a problem to soften and remove this stuff. Good luck.

 

This "dum-dum" could be a foam or rubber gasket/seal that has deteriorated. I've see this before in a Dodge I used to own.

As for the gear alignment, usually these kinds of assemblies have an arrow molded onto each gear pointing to a specific tooth. Sometimes it's hard to see, but it's kind of like a timing mark so you can orient the arrows to point to each other.

 

Fixed

I just wanted to wrap up this tread and state that the issues was all related to the black sealer substance was the cause of the damper sealing shut. The servo motor tried turning the white plastic gear to open the sealed door and it forced the gear to pop off the shaft.
The Fix was to remove all the black sealer around the damper doors (using some spray can of degeaser on a rag) and re-position the gear back on the shaft properly (which took about 15 minutes to verify that the proper damper doors/vents were opening with the matching buttons on the HVAC console).
It took the mechanic all but 30 minutes to repair and it, thankfully, only cost me $20 for his time.
I hope this helps anyone else that encounters a similar problem.
Thanks again to the members who assisted me solve the issue.
Cheers! :laugh

 

Wow, only 20 bucks? I would bring that mechanic a case of his favorite beer as thanks. Imagine what a Toyota dealer would have charged!

 

For a 30-minute fix, Toyota would charge $50.00 (half the hourly rate). Fine in my books. But $20 is better, unfortunately I don't know that mechanic.

 

were you able to remove the blower housing without removing the upper and lower dash?

 

J_LeBlanc's last activity on the forum was his "Fixed" post from two years ago but I'd surmise from how easy it was that virtually nothing was removed except the black sealer.

 

What a terrific thread!
I have a base model, so it doesn't apply to me, but this is excellent information.
Kudos.

 

Evaporator case access

see the evaporator case removal video ,

I removed my blower assembly from under the passenger side lower dash to get to the servos. I am confused how the upper dash was removed and the damper cleaned up and the plastic gear reinstalled in 2 hrs. Can the upper dash be removed without taking the steering wheel Loose? is there access to the lower part of the evaporator case from the top somehow?

 

I know this is an old thread, but this just happened to me, and thanks to this thread I was able to fix it in an hour. Pulled the glove box out, and could see the big white gear was loose. Popped off the floor duct piece so I could look in at the damper door and sure enough, it was stuck shut with black goo. I don't think its sealer, but part of the rubber gasket on the bottom of the door that just melted at some point. Maybe a really hot summer day? I cleaned all the sticky stuff off and put the white gear back on ( which took the most time trying to figure out the correct position ). If it happens again, I may just take that black rubber gasket off the bottom of the door. Worse thing that can happen is a little air will sneak out below the door ( closed position ) into the heater ducts when its all supposed to coming out the vents or defrost.

 

This happens to a lot of vehicles. It happened to our '94 Dodge Grand Caravan. The foam they used seems to deteriorate and turn into a tar-like substance. What year is your RAV4, and does the VIN begin with J?

 

I just reset the white gear back on and cleaned the seal off with Gunk engine cleaner on a rag. I found a 2010 Rav4 at a car dealer and took pics of the gear in the different positions (after being unable to find the right spot the previous day). Pushed the control for defrost and had it on in about 5 minutes. I'll post the position pics, maybe help someone get it back on a little quicker. They set at: pic 1- floor, 2- face, 3- defrost.

 

Poe9030: that's an excellent work you did by attaching the pictures in different positions. I have similar issue on my 2008 Rav4 auto a/c and the gear just popped out. I followed your pictures as a guidance and it did not perfectly corresponds with the airflow direction buttons. I was wondering if you still own the Rav4 and could do pictures for buttons with feet air duct removed so I can see the damper door in closed/open/maybe half open position? Thanks a million

 

my 2007 limited RAV4 (222k miles) just had this exact issue. Following the steps from Poe9030 did the trick. I had to play around with the gear and correct buttons but got it to work on my 3rd try. Just install the gear in the same orientation, change the button, and see if it moves. If it doesn’t move, pop off the gear, move it to the next button, reinstall the gear and press a different button to see if
it moves. Here’s a picture of the melted gasket before and after cleaning

 

my 2007 limited RAV4 (222k miles) just had this exact issue. Following the steps from Poe9030 did the trick. I had to play around with the gear and correct buttons but got it to work on my 3rd try. Just install the gear in the same orientation, change the button, and see if it moves. If it doesn’t move, pop off the gear, move it to the next button, reinstall the gear and press a different button to see if
it moves. Here’s a picture of the melted gasket before and after cleaning
View attachment 175760
View attachment 175761

2008 RAV4 limited: Same here, happened several times to me. Gear came off and put back but this time air doesn't blow strong enough on windshield when I select "defrost" or "footwell & defrost" which causes fog build up on the windshield ( pretty dangerous). I ran the test and code 43 came up this time. I don't know if I need to realign the white gear again, I'm afraid to break it as I tried to pull it off gently without success...

 

What I noticed though that if set the heater to its lowest, the air flow to windshield improves dramatically, any ideas?

 

Have you looked to see if the duct can move freely, or if it is stuck in place by the melted gasket? You’ll need to remove the floor duct to find out. I noticed the issue when the air wasn’t blowing strong enough on my windshield like you have said and found that the duct was unable to move due to the melted gasket

 

I previously removed the floor duct and the damper gasket was as good as new

 

Sounds like it may be a different issue then. I would take the floor duct off and see how the duct and gear moves as you press different buttons. Is the gear moving as you press different buttons, or does it just barely move then stop?